Bliss
by djinni14
Summary: This story is a variation of my "The Bear and I" story. Is is not required for you to read that story first. This is a stand alone story. However the theme is similar. - COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

**Bliss**

_Chapter 1_

"This is your captain speaking. I need everyone's attention, please." He waited a few seconds. "We have a red light that we can't resolve in the air. As a result we will be making an emergency landing in Goma. It's in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The closest major city is Burundi and it's located in Tanzania. After we land I'll try and update you on how long this is going to take. I apologize for the delay. This is for your safety."

"Tanzania?" Katie turned her head to look across the aisle to look at her parents. When her parents had suggested this trip to her during her summer break from Stanford she'd jumped at it.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

One week in South Africa in their capital city followed by a week in Cairo so they could see the pyramids. It was all part of a package deal. They were actually flying as part of a group.

As a result Kate had done a lot of research on what was on where they were going. That was when she learned that South Africa actually had three capital cities. They were going to be in Cape Town for a whole week.

After that she had done a lot of research on Cairo and that was where Kate had a problem.

"MOM!?" Katie yelled and waited for her to show up.

"You bellowed?" Johanna queried since yelling nearly that loud wasn't necessary.

Katie ignored that part. "Cairo is all desert, Mom. It's going to be really hot. We'll bake!" And that was just the first problem.

"It's a tour, Katie," Johanna said patiently. "We'll never be alone and we'll have an air-conditioned coach and hotel room. The only time you'll be hot is touring the pyramids or temples that we visit. The hotel even has a pool if that will help." Johanna knew that being in Cairo was a risk for several reasons. The heat was only one of them, but they were never going to be back so it didn't matter.

"There better be." She would find a way to make her parents pay if they didn't have air-conditioning the entire way. "What about Cairo itself? I've read about attacks on tourists. Their political system is in chaos. There have been demonstrations and fights." That was the second problem with this trip.

"It's a risk, I won't deny it. However, we're a large enough group and we'll be staying in a western hotel just outside of the city so it should be safe." Johanna and Jim had talked about all this before booking it and paying the deposit let alone the final payment.

"Risk!? The Muslim Brotherhood isn't a _risk__,_ Mom. They're religious homicidal screwballs willing to die for…for…whatever it is that their willing to die for," she sputtered. "AND TAKE US WITH THEM!".

"Are you having your period, honey?" Johanna was sure she was making too much out of this. They weren't going to be anywhere near that mess.

"What!? That's beside the point." How did she know it was her period anyway? Oh, yeah, her PMS. "What part of fanatic killer Muslim Brotherhood did you miss, Mom?"

"You can stop over exaggerating or you can go back to school and spend time with that boyfriend you told us about. Maybe he'll go to Alaska where it's nice and frozen. Just the way you like it," Johanna huffed.

That had Katie hanging her head. "I dumped him. He was a thief, a cheat, and a liar. …And you're ducking the question."

"Then don't go. Even if your father and I did pay for you to go. The refrigerator's empty but you can get takeout all week. Spend all day in bed and watch TV and poison your mind with all that crap." Johanna turned to leave.

Katie groaned. Her mother was playing games with her mind. …AGAIN! And worse, she was winning. "Fine, I'll go. But if those fanatic Muslims capture me and turn me into their sex slave it's going to be all your fault." Two could play these games.

"That's nice, honey. You'll love it." Johanna wasn't biting and left her room.

"Enjoy being a sex slave trapped in some pit in Cairo. Forced to eat hummus all day. Gag me!" Suddenly this trip was looking more like a nightmare.

"YOU KNOW I COULD ORGANIZE AN ORGY PARTY WITH MY FRIENDS WHILE YOU'RE GONE!" Katie wasn't done yelling yet. All it got her was being ignored. She'd lost and was forced to admit it. "This better be the best summer vacation ever."

**U** \- /**O**\ - **U** \- /**O**\ - **U** \- /**O**\ - **U**

"What did Katie want?" Jim inquired since all he heard was a lot of yelling that didn't make a whole lot of sense to him since he was only hearing part of it.

Jo made a face. "Katie's being dramatic. She's convinced herself that the Muslim Brotherhood is going to capture us and eat us."

"They might be wackos who are willing to die and kill each other but they aren't cannibals." Jim didn't believe that for a second and saw the look his wife was giving him. "Ohhh! I wonder where she gets that from?" He rolled his eyes and tried to keep a straight face.

"No one I know. And neither do you." He didn't if he knew what was good for him.

Jim decided to change the subject. "You're fine with us going on this vacation. It means you have to drop that Pulgatti guy. You sounded convinced that there was something there." Jim knew just how committed she was to her job and what she fought for.

"The staff can look into it and I can pick up with what they find when we get back. I tell you, Jim, something stinks in that conviction." Johanna could smell it.

"Of course you're right. A known mob enforcer who has broken more bones than half the doctors in the city had mended is convicted of a murder of an undercover FBI agent. And something stinks." Jim didn't see what she saw.

"Don't mock me. I've never been wrong yet. …I married you, didn't I?" It was her best _not being wrong _ that she could think of.

That had Jim smiling and wrapping his arms around her. "You're just lucky that I finally got up the courage to ask you out on a date."

"I thought you were never going to ask me," Johanna said.

"Hmm, now we have a daughter with more hormones than nearly all of the women in this city combined." He was convinced their daughter was deliberately trying to drive them mad.

"It was just a phase. Just be thankful that she didn't end up pregnant or come down with an STD." Johanna couldn't believe some of the guys her daughter had dated. Some of the worst scumbags she could possibly have found.

Jim let go of his his wife and put a finger in each ear. "I'm not listening. La, la, la, la." He was not listening about his daughter having sex or worse ending up pregnant. Let alone contracting an STD.

Johanna took his fingers out of his ears. "How she didn't contract body lice from some of those guys still escapes me. Please tell me we're finally past that point." Jim had hated all of them.

"She broke up with that boyfriend she had at school. Something about him being a thief, a liar, and a cheat. So she might be smartening up when it comes to boys." Johanna saw the breakup as a good thing.

"Thank goodness!" Jim was happy. "She could do so much better if she would just try."

"Katie will find him. She's got a good head on her shoulders and she's pretty. Okay, a better head on her shoulders." Johanna was willing to admit that Katie had been a pain for a while.

"We have an early flight tomorrow, 11:15 am if my memory serves, with one stop. All nineteen hours of it." Jim was thinking they really needed to get started with their packing.

Johanna rested against her husband because of that. "Nineteen hours in a tiny little seat. Maybe we should have chosen something closer. Australia maybe?" Johanna brightened up since she was teasing.

"Oh yeah, twenty-four hours is _so_ much shorter than nineteen hours. Excellent plan," Jim teased right back which earned him a light swat to his chest. "We could have taken that river cruise in Germany that I wanted." It was far too late now but he had suggested something a little closer.

Johanna shook her head. "Trapped on a narrow, really long boat in a tiny little room for a whole week or longer. It still sounds like a bad idea. Besides Katie wouldn't like it any better than this trip. You should hear her about the heat in Cairo." Johanna rolled her eyes at him.

"If we left it to her she would turn herself into an Eskimo, live in an igloo, and run around naked," Jim remarked only to have his wife place her fingers over his mouth.

"Not so loud, you'll give her ideas and she has enough of those already." Johanna wasn't really sure if she was teasing or not. For all she knew Katie might do just that.

"You should go get her started packing or we'll never get there. I'm going to put all our paper work and passports together and in one place so we don't leave them behind. I'll join you to help pack after that. Vacation here we come." Jim was happy to get out and see something that none of them had ever seen and might never see again.

Johanna kissed him and went to Katie's room to get her started.

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They were in Terminal A, finally walking down the concourse to their gate with an hour to wait until boarding. Jim had gotten them there early in case there was one of New York City's famous car accidents or some other stupid thing. He wasn't missing their flight. Not when they had a connecting flight in Johannesburg.

Their plane was an Airbus A340-600 and Jim and Johanna had seats next to each other in row 43, seats H and K. Katie had an aisle seat in the middle. Row 43 seat G. They had a wall right in front of them. A pair of emergency exit doors were just the other side of the wall as was a stewardess station. There were fourteen rows behind them and a number of rows in front of them.

You would think all of New York was going to Cape Town with the number of people on this flight. From where they were seated it looked like a full flight. Then the stewardess came on to tell them to please cooperate because they had a full flight.

Katie put her neck support pillow around her neck, wrapped her arms around herself, and tried to find a good position so she could go to sleep and ignore her seatmates.

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Since they were on a tour they had already met their tour guide who would be with them the entire trip. Upon finally reaching Cape Town they had a bus to take them to their hotel.

**The Capital Mirage Hotel**, Corner Strand and Chiappini Street, Cape Town, 8001 Cape Town, South Africa.

From the outside after the bus stopped, it looked rather modern. A white wall on one side with the hotel name on it. The other three sides were all glass and steel.

"Not bad." Johanna liked it. Since Katie was expecting to see huts or yurts this was a nice surprise.

They all gathered in the lobby while their tour guide checked them all in and handed out keys to everyone. "It's presently 2:16 in the afternoon. You have the rest of today to yourselves. Breakfast is provided by the hotel. Just show them your room cards. It's a hot breakfast. You need to be here in the lobby at 11:00 to meet our tour bus. A late lunch is included. When that's completed you have the rest of the day to yourselves. There's a lot to do in this city so enjoy."

They went to the elevator along with everyone else and eventually made it to their floor and found their room.

It had two queen sized beds that were mostly white. White pillows and gray accent pillows. The comforter was folded up and at the foot of the bed. It was a series of gray colors that matched the carpeted floor. The headboard was large and a mix of gray and black.

The drawers were white while the cabinet for hanging clothes was black. There was a small table between the bed that held a phone. The table had a glass top with narrow metal supports.

Johanna went to the glass wall to look out onto the city. Since they were on the 8th floor they actually had a view and it wasn't a parking lot. "Not bad. How's the bathroom?" They had all walked right past it.

That had Katie looking while Jim began opening suitcases. "White! Lots and lots of white. One sink. White, one really big walk-in shower. White and one white tub with white walls, white floor, and white ceiling." It was modern looking and Katie wasn't sure she liked it, but it looked clean and it wasn't outside.

Johanna searched for the brochure that was surely here that talked about this place.

"There's a rooftop bar and outdoor pool. Three restaurants. Conveniently located between Cape Town's city center and trendy De Waterkant. The Cape Quarter Lifestyle Village is just a two minute walk away with some of Cape Town's most popular restaurants and coffee shops.

"Let's see… The restaurants are a steak house, sushi, and rooftop dining a la carte," Johanna read aloud.

"Nightlife?" Katie wanted to have some fun on this trip. Not spend it looking at museums with her parents.

"Don't look at me, and if you come home drunk you're going to ruin this trip for yourself. We came here to see what we couldn't in New York or San Francisco," Johanna warned her.

"And end up chained to the bed," Jim added even if he didn't have chains and ultimately wouldn't.

"I promise." She ignored her dad. She could get drunk with friends at school. She didn't need to get drunk here. Though she did want to find a place to do some dancing. "Maybe the front desk will know."

"We have about four hours or so until dinner time. We could walk to this village and see what is there. Maybe find a restaurant that we can't resist," Johanna offered.

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"Ooo, it's a shopping complex." Johanna was sold. Jim groaned. He didn't need to go shopping for women's clothing. She found a map that told them store names but not what they had but it did show where.

"You can meet us here, babe." Johanna indicated a store that sounded like something he might like. "Katie and I will meet you there in two hours." Johanna saw her husband have a little smile; he was off the hook. "Have fun." She gave him a quick kiss and left with Katie to do some shopping or at the very least some window shopping.

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Katie and Johanna started with Loulisa East Meets West. There they found a lot of handwoven items, clothing accessories, and handcrafted jewelry. They both wandered around until Katie found a lovely large red hat that she tried on and looked in the mirror. She was really starting to like it. She thought she looked good in a hat. Right up until she saw the price and needed to figure out what that was in dollars. It went back where she found it.

Rizelli was next. They soon learned that it was a pretty good sized store. Lots of clothes, items for a home, perfume, and other things.

"Mom, shoes!" Katie was drawn to it like a moth to a flame and Johanna was right behind her.

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Katie's eyes saw something unique and picked it up. It talked about rhinestones, chains, thongs, gladiator flat sandals, and flip flops. It was totally sparkly and shiny.

"I thought you were into high heels?" Johanna asked since she didn't think she would ever wear them.

"Good point." Katie put them back and kept looking.

"What about these!" Katie found something that was really her. They had open toe and open heel. They were above the ankle and had a hidden zipper up the outside. The material was sinfully soft and they were maybe a 6 inch heel, more or less, and they were jet black.

"You do have a black dress somewhere if you brought it." Johanna liked them, too.

"I did, actually." She had planned ahead for something more formal to wear.

Then she looked at the price and did the conversation in her head. "Sixteen dollars!?" Katie felt her mouth fall open and clutched the shoes to her chest. She was so buying these. They would go with her black dress perfectly even if she had brought some strappy black high heels to wear with it.

Johanna found something she couldn't believe. "What are these?" She held them up for Katie to see. They had more colors than any color chart she could remember seeing.

"Hot pink, black, lime green, bright orange, soft blue, navy blue, soft pink, yellow, and green." Katie pointed at each color. "They're Nike." She saw the Nike swoosh.

"They have to be fakes." Johanna put them back down. They were so not her style.

Katie picked up something to show her. "Here, Mom, these are more your style."

They were gladiator sandals, open toe with laces up over the ankle and up to her upper calf.

"Oh yes, so my style. Put those things back." Her daughter was nuts but it did make both of them laugh.

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Johanna didn't find anything so they left that store with Katie's new shoes.

Tabitta Fashions was next and while it had a lot to look at nothing caught their eyes.

"Time to go find your father." Their two hours were up.

**Bootlegger Coffee Company**

"Thank god! Coffee!" Katie gave her shoes to her dad and got in line.

"Let me guess. Shoes." Jim was smiling since he thought he knew his women, at least to a point.

Johanna defended her. "They're perfect for the black dress she brought."

"I see your hands are empty." He was thinking that must be a first.

"Didn't really see anything. How's the coffee?" Maybe she should get a cup.

"Amazingly good, actually. You should try a cup. Then we can talk about where to eat dinner or where to go next." Jim watched her get up and get in line for a cup of coffee.

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They were back at the hotel since none of the places to eat sounded all that appetizing, especially after looking at the Italian restaurant that was located there.

"Steak it is," Jim said.

Jim and Johanna got a table while Katie took her shoes to the room and came back down.

**Cattle Baron Steak House**

Jim and Johanna both chose fillet while Katie chose lamb chops. Katie saw the look her parents were giving her. "The hotel has an exercise room. Besides I still want to find a place to go dancing tonight. I'll be back in time to get some sleep, I promise."

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate got a recommendation from the front desk. **Cocoon** was actually an easy walk from the hotel. Open from 10pm to 4am.


	2. Chapter 2

**Bliss**

_Chapter 2_

"Jim Beckett, you are _not_ eating all that." They were at breakfast and he had a plate filled with food that was far too much for him to be eating.

"It's free food and I intend on getting my money's worth. Besides she said we were having a late lunch so we'll probably be missing dinner tonight." This might be his one and only meal.

"You're going to make yourself sick eating all that. You know we have a bus tour after this." Johanna tried to reason with him only to see him start eating it. She was sure he'd intentionally touched each and every item just to make sure she didn't force him to put some of it back. "Fine, but you better take a barf bag on this tour and I'm sleeping with Katie tonight. I'm not listening to you moan all night about eating too much."

"And look what you've done to our daughter!" Johanna watched Katie joins them with a monstrous stack of breakfast sausages. She had a child's serving of scrambled eggs, milk, juice, and some toast.

"You should try these Mom, they are SPICY!" Katie dug in and moaned at the first few bites. She'd already taste tested them which was why she had so many.

"I may be sleeping in the lobby." Just watching these two made Johanna lose what little appetite she had after last night's steak.

"So how was dancing? I noticed you were at least in the room when I woke up," Johanna inquired.

"It was great!" Katie put her hand over her mouth since she was talking with her mouth full. "The dance floor was packed all night. I think I danced with everyone there." Technically she had danced alone but moved around a lot so it gave the illusion of dancing with everyone.

"And I only had the one drink if that makes you feel better." She really hadn't come here to get drunk or have a one night affair with a married guy who would lie to her and tell her he was single, when he wasn't.

"Just so long as you have fun and don't get arrested." Johanna left off _and get pregnant, or married, or do drugs, or step in front of a bus while drunk, or kidnapped, or raped, or… _Johanna shook her head to clear her thoughts.

**Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens**

_Nestled on the eastern slope of Table Mountain, the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens are home to a large collection of indigenous plants, from fynbos heather to bright strelitzias and proteas (South Africa's national flower). There's also a conservatory housing flora that grows in more extreme conditions, from mountain peaks to arid deserts. In addition, the gardens regularly host stone sculpture exhibitions and outdoor concerts. There are shady, secluded spots to sit in, or explore the pathways that meander through the woods and bushes in the upper areas of the gardens, which run unfenced into the slopes of the mountain._

"An outdoor concert!" Kate stopped to look over who was playing that night.

"You can go, just remember to take something with you that the taxi driver can use to get you back to your hotel." This place wasn't just around the corner.

"Thanks, Mom!" Katie went looking where to buy a ticket and how to get there and get back.

"You're sure that was wise?" Jim asked his wife. They were in Cape Town, after all, not New York City.

"She's a grown woman. She's probably done worse in San Francisco when not in classes. Besides, there won't be any alcohol and she'll be surrounded by people. She'll be fine." Johanna tried to have some faith in her daughter.

"Yeah, surrounded by people smoking pot and popping pills with no restrooms." All Jim saw was the negative aspects of this concert.

"That was Woodstock, Jim, this is different." Johanna rolled her eyes at him and waited for Katie to come back.

"Our bus leaves at 10:00am tomorrow so make sure you're early. We're going to Table Mountain tomorrow. There's a restaurant and lunch is provided. There are number of walking paths for your use so keep that in mind for the shoes you wear. We will be parking at the base and taking a cable car to the top. It will all provide amazing views. I'll see you all in the morning. Enjoy the evening." Their tour guide then left them.

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Jim and even Katie were eating a more normal breakfast this time which had Johanna believing they had learned their lesson.

"How was the concert?" Johanna was curious.

Katie shrugged. "It was okay." She hadn't been impressed. Not enough lights, sound or action for her. Then they had had a power failure that delayed it a little until they fixed it.

**Table Mountain**

_Once the 'table cloth' cloud has cleared, it's well worth admiring Cape Town from the summit of Table Mountain. You can reach the top by taking the modern cable car, which completes a 360º rotation on its way, allowing you to appreciate the incredible views from all angles. More adventurously, you can also hike up the mountain with the help of a guide or independently, navigating steep, rocky trails and short vertical faces. Once at the top, you can explore the various pathways and viewpoints and enjoy refreshments in the restaurant. You may also spot the resident rock hyraxes, which resemble large hamsters._

Kate had never even heard of a cable car that did 360 degree twists on the way up and down let alone ridden in one. The mountain itself was nothing to look at. It looked a lot like jagged concrete. They'd built something right on top right up to the edge that also looked like plain concrete only it had a few windows.

Then they found out it wasn't really a restaurant. More of a snack shop, but it was food and the view was really good.

"I'm going walking, I'll be back." Jim and Johanna were content to just sit there and look at the view.

When Katie returned she was hot and miserable and found a place to sit under an A/C vent while drinking the coldest beverage she could find.

Their tour guide stood in the center of the group. "We leave even earlier tomorrow so be down here and ready to go at 9:00am. Bring or wear your swimsuit, towel, and don't forget the sunscreen. The South African sun will burn you fast if you're not used to it. This time I have a brochure for each of you to read and plan accordingly. Lunch is provided again.

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**Cape Point**

_Catch glimpses of the stunning coastline on a scenic drive to Cape Point. Upon arrival, ride the Flying Dutchman Funicular up the mountainous slope through fynbos to the lighthouse at the top. Hike over the natural terrain and delight in the panoramic views. Then, take an easy stroll back down along a paved nature trail._

**Lunch with a View**

_Savor fresh seafood and other options from a set menu at a restaurant featuring a spectacular seaside view._

**African Penguins at Boulders Beach**

_Take a short walk to Boulders Beach—home to the charming African penguins. Located in a cove on the azure waters of the Atlantic Ocean, its white sand beach is surrounded by massive granite boulders. Take a moment to delight in the antics of these adorable birds as they wade and waddle around!_

Kate had gone into this wearing a bikini with a cover up and flip flops. With sunscreen and towel in hand she hit the beach with the intent of soaking up some rays. She soon found one tiny problem. All the tourists prior to her had fed the penguins. Or at least enough of them that the penguins saw tourists as easy marks. And lying on a towel to get some sun meant penguins came right up to her expecting to be fed. She had to abandon that idea.

Once back in their hotel their tour guide stopped all of them. "Tomorrow is a day all to yourself. Go see a movie, go shopping, go sailing, go fishing. Cape Town has a lot to offer you."

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All three of them spent it on the roof of their hotel. There was a pool so Kate could finally get some sun and there was a restaurant so they didn't really need to go anywhere else. Even Jim and Johanna had shown up wearing swimsuits. No matter that they spent their time in the shade the entire time save for a quick dip in the pool.

When they were done for the day they found something stuffed inside their room just under the door. "Tomorrow's itinerary." Johanna picked it up and left the bathroom to Katie to change first. Jim went next while Johanna started planning.

"Another 9:00am meeting downstairs," she warned them.

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**The Winelands**

_The rolling countryside and lure of trying South Africa's finest wines makes taking a one to two hour drive out to the Winelands well worthwhile. On a private full-day tour you can sit back and admire the landscape as you wind through dramatic mountain ranges and expansive vineyards. Stop at Stellenbosch, South Africa's second oldest town, to admire its canals, Cape Dutch architecture and wine, before heading over the Helshoogte Pass to Franschhoek, renowned for its cuisine and idyllic valley setting, where a patchwork of vineyards meets towering mountains. Here, you can visit a wine estate to taste more of the region's produce, before moving on to the town of Paarl, set at the foot of a huge granite rock, for a final wine tasting._

"We have one more event. You have an hour to get dressed and back down here to board our bus. We're going to take you to a site for dinner and dancing along the coast. So dress up and be ready to stay up late. You leave for the airport for the next step in your tour where you will be greeted by a new tour guide. It has been a pleasure serving you and showing you my city and country."

Wine really wasn't Kate's favorite drink though she did do the taste testing. This was more for her mom and dad, especially when the tour was over and each of them were carrying a four pack of bottles. How they planned on getting them home wasn't her problem.

However, getting three people showered, dressed with makeup and hair in place with just one bathroom was proving to be their biggest challenge.

Johanna was first out of the bathroom. Her hair was done up in a French twist and she'd taken extra care in applying her makeup. Jim was next. New shaved, he'd indulged in a splash of his favorite cologne. He and Johanna dressed while Katie got ready in the bathroom.

Johanna slipped into her silver and black gown. Her silver sequined top had a bateau neckline and cap sleeves. The attached wraparound skirt was black crepe and had a modest slit on the left side. Jim kissed the back of her neck then zipped her gown up. "Oh, Jo! You're so beautiful!" He put his hand on her waist, grasped her right hand, and danced her around the room.

Jim hurriedly dressed in a black wool tux, a white dress shirt with onyx studs, a black silk bow tie, and silver gray pocket square. Johanna walked over to her husband and stroked his cheek. "You look so handsome, Jim! We need to go out more often." She gave him a kiss then stood in front of the mirror and applied her lipstick. She'd waited to put it on so that Jim wouldn't have lipstick on his face.

Kate stepped out of the bathroom since she was last in her black dress to see what her parents were wearing.

"Oh my God, Katie! You're gorgeous!" Johanna had no idea where she had gotten that dress but she suddenly looked so grown up and beautiful. She wasn't her little girl any longer and this dress proved it.

Katie was proud of her dress especially when she wasn't sure when she was ever going to have a reason to wear it. With a diagonal neckline, her right shoulder was left bare. The left shoulder ended in a short sleeve with a sheer black overdress that was embroidered with black roses and ivy. There was a flesh-toned under dress for modesty. At an opposite angle to the neckline, there was a black skirt that attached at the hip. And it flared out when Katie walked. She even spun in place to show it off. "You can't even really see my shoes all that well." She lifted a leg to show them off. To make sure the dress looked perfect she was wearing a black thong to go with it.

The combination dinner dance was extremely formal and not really to Kate's cup of tea but she did get to dance a slow dance with her dad in her black dress and new shoes and suddenly she felt regal. Something she had never felt before. She actually thought she might learn to like dancing like this.

When she made it back to their table her mother was beaming at her and Katie looked back with a question on her own face. It was just a dance with her dad. Except Johanna could easily replace her husband with a nice handsome young man for her daughter.

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They didn't fly out until 4:35pm so they had several hours to kill before their bus would take them to the airport. Cairo was going to be their next stop.

Kate was busy packing while watching her mother wrapping up her bottles of South African wine. Suddenly she was standing next to her. "Here find room for these." Johanna handed Katie four wrapped up bottles of wine and watched her leave her to go help her dad get packed.

"But...but!" Where was she supposed to put these things and still have room for the things she bought later?

Miraculously Kate found space and avoided sitting on her suitcase to make it close. The last thing she needed was wine-soaked clothes, bras, and panties.

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They had an almost three hour layover in Johannesburg which was much longer than last time. It allowed them to find a bar so Johanna had a glass of wine while Jim and Katie were drinking beers and snacking on bar snacks as they waited.

It was interesting to watch the people walk past them seemingly oblivious to everyone around them. It wasn't until a golf cart beeping its horn that had anyone looking around them. Still all they saw was the golf cart.

People wore all kinds of clothes or maybe in one case it was more pajamas by the look of them. Other times Kate saw girls wearing sweats. She was glad that she was past that point in her life, mostly because she had looked just like that girl once. Just not in an airport, let alone one in South Africa.

"You're thinking awfully hard over there. You're not still concerned about your radical Muslims in Cairo again, are you?" Johanna didn't see the need.

"No, Mom, I wasn't. I am now, though, thank you very much." Katie downed her beer and left the two of them to get another. Maybe if she was at least buzzed being captured by the Muslim Brotherhood wouldn't hurt nearly as much.

"Sometimes I have a big mouth." Johanna was sorry she'd said anything at all. "And if you say anything you're traveling with the checked luggage." Johanna waggled her finger at her husband who, she was sure, was thinking up a comment.

"Everything was fine when we booked this trip. They could have at least waited until after we were gone to start killing each other. We'll be fine." Johanna dug in, positive that this trip wasn't going to be ruined by a bunch of radical screwballs.


	3. Chapter 3

**Bliss**

_Chapter 3_

Rick had suggested a break in the talks and had left the conference room to get some fresh air. Each side was so totally entrenched that they couldn't see the other side. He had anticipated this when he'd been sent there by his boss. However, the fact that he'd been sent at all was part of the mystery. Almost every senior diplomat was quitting or being dismissed by the president. His opinion of what America should be was greatly in conflict with the past. America was slowly becoming something else entirely and almost everyone either didn't care, didn't notice, or wanted the change.

For Rick what happened in other countries would always find a way to influence what happened in America. It might have seemed trivial to some or many, but if you ignored them or even worse, didn't learn from them, you were dooming the country as a whole.

Walls, whether they were physical, mental, or an illusion, didn't keep anyone out. They trapped you inside. And while you were busy building the wall you and everyone else who wanted that wall never took the time to notice.

East Germany built a wall except like all walls meant to keep people in or out, it was heavily manned with men told to and only too willing to kill. China's Great Wall did the same for basically the same reason. Israel had a wall that also had guard towers.

Physical walls were simply the easiest to see and understand. There were other walls that did more harm than good. The wall Rick was presently dealing with was a religious wall. One side was right and the other side was wrong. So wrong that they were fighting each other to enforce their point.

This fighting meant something to America if they would just pay attention. Or maybe they were but the wrong part of America was paying attention. He didn't know why they hadn't learned from the past.

Russia was arming one side by selling weapons and America was selling weapons to the other side. Both sides were making money while each side died and neither Russia or America gave a damn. Russia wanted one thing so they sold them weapons. America wanted a totally different thing. Funny thing was neither of their reasons was ever going to hurt the other. People died all the same and the fight simply continued.

Rick knew that if he didn't stop it here, it would spill over into the neighboring country and that country was actually still being supported by America. Which was almost a shock to him given that the president had made sure almost no one was being supported but a select few.

"Richard?" Gina had found him and he sighed softly. As if dealing with these people wasn't hard enough he had to deal with her as well. She and his other aide had not been selected by him. They'd been assigned to him and he was stuck with them.

"They needed a break, Gina. I needed a break." They were both getting on his nerves.

Gina took hold of his arm and stroked it with her other hand. "You're working too hard. You should take a break and get some rest. Do something different." _Like take me to your room and fuck my brains out._

"I'm doing my job; if I don't people are going to die. Or are you missing that point as well?" Rick was so very tired of these two. And if as on cue Paula showed up.

"Richard." Paula came up on his other side and ignored the dagger Gina was slinging her way. She had seen her daggers and they all said one thing. _I found him first so keep your hands off. _Paula, though, was immune and simply sent back her equally silent dagger. _You just keep dreaming that because he's mine._

"Is there a reason you two are out here? Besides annoying me while I'm trying to relax." Rick didn't want to be brusque with them but he was tired of these two and he was tired of the other two as well.

"I'm pretty sure of what Gina wants but I'm here to tell you that both sides just left the building." She pointed at the car convoys that could be seen leaving.

"That's great, just great." Rick extracted his arm from Gina's clutches and moved down the wall to watch them both leave the talks he was there for.

No sooner than he was gone than Paula and Gina got into a fight of their own. Except their fight was all stares at the other side reminding the other who Rick belonged to.

What Rick really wanted to do was resign and find another job. It was just that his job was too important even if all the politicians couldn't or didn't want to see it. If they weren't careful a little fight here and others elsewhere were going to bite America in the ass.

Rick strode toward his room. He needed to come up with a plan before it became too late.

Paula and Gina were too involved with each other to notice immediately until one of them realized that he was gone. That had both of them walking away to go in search of him. Naturally they each went different directions.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick was sitting at a the lone table in his room with everything he had on each side spread out in front of him. He needed something that both sides could talk about and agree on. Then he could weave that into everything else until finally both sides could see that fighting wasn't benefiting either of them.

Admittedly he knew that he was a little young for this job but he was also smart. He had a knack for learning languages. He presently spoke twelve of them fluently and another three just well enough to make himself understood. He had always been good with words.

He had actually toyed with the idea of becoming a writer. However a fateful encounter had gotten him into the diplomatic core for the United States instead. Since that day he had never looked back.

He was still searching and planning when there was someone at his door. He sighed since he knew who it was likely to be. Okay, that wasn't technically true. He didn't know who was on the other side of his door. He didn't have x-ray vision even if as a kid he had always dreamed of having x-ray vision and being a super hero.

No, he knew there were only two people who could be on the other side of his door and he had a 50-50 chance on just who.

Rick readied himself and opened the door. "Gina." Sadly he was right.

Gina walked right in past him and made her way to the bed. The very bed she would really like to find herself in especially if they were both naked.

Rick left the door open. "What can I help you with, Gina? I'm rather busy. I need to find a way to get both of them back to the table."

"What you need is to relax and clear your mind. It's too clouded with work and I have just what you need." _Me naked and you naked and us having mind blowing sex._

"I'm as relaxed as I need to be. What I need is an answer. Something that will help me figure out these two." Rick stayed at the door and watched as Gina sat on his bed.

"You could at least come to dinner and eat something. Have something to drink." _Drink just enough to listen to me and let me strip you naked._

"Room service will work just fine. Thank you for your concern." Rick held the door open so she could exit his room. But she didn't and then it got worse.

Paula showed up at his door. "Richard, there you are. I've been looking all over for you. Are you alright? You look a little pale." She placed her hand softly against his face.

"Richard is fine. He was just going to dinner with me. He's working too hard and needs to relax," Gina informed Paula haughtily. Eyes slitted in anger, Paula spun to see Gina sitting on his bed. _She was where she was supposed to be. Not that big__-__titted blonde airhead._

Rick was saved or maybe more accurately cursed when his satellite phone started to ring.

It got him away from Paula so maybe he wasn't cursed. "Rodgers. ROY!? Give me a minute. You two out. **Now!**" Roy was a friend and the person who had gotten him into the diplomatic corps.

Rick closed and locked the door after Gina and Paula were on the other side. Thankfully he didn't have to see or listen to them fighting over him.

"What can I help you with, Roy?" Finally a friendly voice instead of listening to people who only wanted to kill the other guy.

"How are your talks going?" Roy knew going in that it was going to be hard for him.

"They both walked out about an hour ago. We're going nowhere so far, but I have faith. I'll find something that brings them back and solve this mess." Rick wasn't giving up.

Roy was too quiet after that and it had him worried. "I hate to rain on your parade, but I've been dismissed."

"WHAT! What idiot did that?!" No sooner than he said it that he knew the answer. There really only was one person.

Roy didn't correct him over calling him an idiot since he shared his opinion. "The president no longer requires my services. As of midnight tonight I'll be an unemployed civilian."

"He can't do that!" Technically Rick knew he could. Hell, he could dismiss him as well easily enough.

"He can and he did. It might be for the best anyway." Roy was growing tired of fighting for the United States that was no longer the country he'd known. Fighting for a country that he didn't like wasn't the kind of job he enjoyed.

"Who's going to replace you? You're irreplaceable." In Rick's eyes, even if they were biased, there was no one that could replace him and that included himself.

"As of this moment. No one," Roy was forced to tell him.

That had Rick sitting on the bed before he fell down. "But there has to be someone. All the senior diplomats are already gone. Without you there's no one to run the place. There won't be anyone to talk to. No one to solve the problems." The president couldn't do this.

"I'm really sorry, Rick, really sorry but there's worse." Roy had some really bad news as his dismissal wasn't bad enough.

"The president is having you and your team recalled. Your mission there is presently over. He has ordered your team returned." Roy knew this was going to hurt him.

"He can't! Just how stupid is he? He can't possibly be this stupid! Does he have any idea what bowing out now will mean? These two are going to start fighting each other in earnest. It's going to spill over and involve countries around this place." The only way Rick saw it stopping was when one side won or they both ran out of fighters or even kids to do the fighting.

"Rick." Roy wanted to tell him to not call the president stupid. It was just that he agreed with him. "He's ordered you home and to hand over access to government aircraft. He has grounded you and your team."

"So I'm fired." Rick fell back onto the bed.

"Technically, no. You just don't have anywhere to go or anything to do after you leave there and come home. America's changing, Rick, and at the moment there isn't anything we can do about it." Roy didn't like where America was going but he was also powerless to change it.

"So diplomacy is dead. We're no longer a democracy or a republic." Suddenly those immortal words came to mind: _"Scotty, beam me up, there is no intelligent life here."_

"Don't be so dramatic. All it takes is for the citizens to vote him out and someone different in. Provided there _is_ another election." Roy let that slip and cursed internally.

Rick bolted upright. "What have you heard?" Rick was scared now. "Roy?"

"It's probably nothing." Roy had already said too much. Rick was the future of the diplomatic core and he didn't need him quitting because he had said something he shouldn't have.

"Don't do this, Roy. Talk to me. You got me into this so talk to me." Rick wanted to know what he knew.

"The president suggested that America might want to consider having a president for life like we do for the Supreme Court. It's just talk so don't go ballistic on me." Roy couldn't having him quitting because of this.

"Ballistic! _Don't go ballistic?_ The only countries that have presidents for life are those that have dictators like North Korea. Or a president who changes the rules so he can stay in power like China or Russia." Rick allowed himself to fall back onto the bed.

"We are so screwed." Rick felt defeated and not because he had failed at his job. His own country had defeated him by changing the rules.

"Will you relax? It's just talk and you know as well as anyone that he loves listening to himself talk. We would have to be a one party system for him to do that and that isn't going to happen." That or there was another civil war. Republicans versus democrats this time.

Rick wasn't listening to him anymore. "How long do I have?" Rick meant before he had to be back in America with nothing to do.

"He didn't give a time schedule. However, you might want to get here as soon as possible. Before he finds out you haven't left yet," Roy warned.

"Or he'll fire me like he did you." Rick heard it loud and clear. "We'll get packed and leave ASAP. Thanks for calling, Roy, and I'm really sorry." This job was going to suck without him.

"It is what it is. I'll see you when you get back here. Take care out there." Roy hung up on him and Rick let the phone fall out of his hand onto the bed. Then he just rested there for a while.

"чертовски чертовски!"* Rick screamed at the ceiling.

"Dannazione tutto all'inferno comunque!"** Rick kept on cursing.

"Chúng tôi rất say."*** Rick just laid there for a while before he got up. If they were leaving he needed Gina and Paula to get packed. As much as he hated it, he had to go find them.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

He knew where their rooms were so he started with Gina and knocked on her door. She soon opened it. "RICHARD!" Her prayers had been answered. He had come to his senses and was seeking her out.

"We've been recalled. You need to pack, we leave for home tomorrow. Where's Paula?" He needed to find her next.

"Home? Why?" Their job wasn't finished and neither was hers.

"The president has recalled us. Our mission is over." Rick tried again. "Now, Paula?"

Gina was shocked. Still this might work out for the better. Rick wouldn't be concentrating on his job so he could concentrate on her. "I don't know. Her room or the bar, maybe." What she really wanted to ask was if they could leave her behind but Rick wasn't going to go for that.

But instead of letting her ask him into her room or do anything else he walked away. She stepped out into the corridor and watched his fine ass move away from her. That would change one day. That would change.

Paula wasn't in her room but he did find her in the bar downstairs. Drinking.

"Ricky!" Paula was glad to see him. He had hunted her down on purpose. "Want a drink with me?" She lifted up her glass to prove that she was drinking.

Rick ignored the question. "You need to go to your room and pack. The president has ordered us home. Our mission here is over. We leave for the airport in the morning."

Paula heard him and sat there in shock. If they had been ordered home did that mean they were also fired? She needed this job. She also needed this job to stay close to Rick.

"Paula, are you listening?" Or was she too drunk already to listen?

"Pack. …Go home." Paula had heard him.

"Don't be late." He didn't want the hassle of having to hunt her down if she was.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick put his bag in the back of the car they'd rented and let Gina and Paula do the same.

He ignored them trying to figure out who was going to sit up front next to him. He got behind the wheel and started the car. In the end Gina was in the passenger seat with Paula in the back.

It was something of a long drive. He'd already called and alerted Will that they would be leaving and that he had about two hours to get the plane ready.

Granted they were in Burundi at the moment but they had landed in Goma in the Congo. It was considered safer to land there instead of in Burundi. It wasn't that the city was that dangerous. It was the groups he was talking with that were the danger. Goma was the wrong direction provided that they didn't chase them down before they could reach the plane and leave.

Gina finally asked a question. "What happened?"

"You know almost as much as I do. Roy called and the president ordered us home," Rick answered.

"Did we do something wrong?" Paula inquired. She hadn't heard anything but maybe it was possible.

"We're diplomats. The president hates diplomats," Rick stated simply and listened to silence for a time.

"But?" Paula didn't think that was true. Surely it wasn't.

Rick broke the news. "He fired Roy." And he didn't hear another peep out of either of them until they made it to the airport safely.


	4. Chapter 4

**Bliss**

_Chapter 4_

They knew they'd landed at an airport. However, they weren't at a building. In fact it didn't look like they were at any building at all. They were just sitting there and no one was telling them anything despite the promise from the captain.

Four hours after landing and they were still just sitting there. To make things worse it had started to rain two hours ago and it was really pouring.

"I can see a plane that's about the same size as us. It says Ethiopian on the side. I didn't even know they had an airline." Johanna was mostly talking to herself.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Another whole hour later. "This is the captain, may I have your attention please. This airline does not have any ground crew at this airport. But we've been authorized to move closer to the main building. This airport does not have a passenger boarding bridge for you to disembark through. As a result they will be rolling up a set of stairs for you to use.

"As you're no doubt aware it's raining. Once you're inside the airport you will find limited representation. Airport officials have indicated that they will do what they can. At this time we have no schedule as to when the maintenance issue will be solved.

"For those of you that have flights you are trying to meet in Cairo, there's also going to be limited information for you. I can only apologize for this delay. It's a safety issue. Thank you for your attention."

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

They were far in the back of the plane though there were several more people even deeper in the plane than them.

They had their carry-ons with them as did everyone else and they waited their turn. By the time they reached the door they saw it was still raining. They realized they were going to get soaking wet as they watched the people in front of them run toward a large single floor building that looked old.

"Great!" Kate moved down the stairs as quickly as the person in front of her allowed then ran for it and passed a few people along the way. She was wet and miserable by the time she was finally inside. She turned and watched her parents run toward her.

Eventually there were three hundred seventy very wet and very unhappy people looking for answers. Unfortunately there were a total of two people that were trying to answer their questions including people that wanted on a different plane to reach Cairo.

Katie, Jim, and Johanna took turns keeping their space in line to get answers if there were any answers. They also needed to use the restroom and to see if this place had food.

Katie and Johanna had found food though it was all pre-made sandwiches, chips, and soda or water. They had enough for three when Jim suddenly showed up.

"And?" Johanna asked him.

Jim broke the bad news. "There are no flights to Cairo from this airport on any airline. We would need to take a plane to a different airport then try and get a flight from there. And in case you ask, they don't have any rental car places here."

"What about our plane?" Johanna inquired since that was the one they had gotten here in and was headed to Cairo.

He explained what he'd been told. "Our airline doesn't have any representatives at this airport. Our airline needs to either send people to fix it, send a replacement plane, or reach some kind of deal to allow a different airline to attempt to fix it.

"Basically our plane is trapped right where it is until someone can fix it. They have no clue if or even when a replacement plane from our airline would arrive. Regrettably we're just as trapped as our plane." It was all Jim had learned and half of that was from listening to them tell the people in front of him what they told him.

"Great! Trapped in the Congo with no way out." Katie was exasperated by the entire thing.

"Are there hotels where we can stay?" Johanna queried, hoping that was an option.

"I asked about that, too. Apparently there are none at or near the airport. We would need to go into Goma itself to find a hotel. The problem I see with that idea is that since our airline isn't represented here, it would be up to us to check the airport constantly to find out if the plane has been repaired or if a replacement plane has arrived. I don't think the airport staff is going to call us if we even told them where we were." Jim wasn't certain but it made sense to him.

"Better and better. …I need a drink." Katie had had enough and got up in search of at least a beer if not something harder.

"We really are screwed aren't we?" Johanna wasn't really asking him but was.

"No plane, no car, getting a hotel is risky and costly since our airline isn't here to issue any vouchers for a hotel. Not that I know what a hotel around here costs. Getting a reservation to an airport that can get us to Cairo would be at our expense for now. Our chances of getting the airline to reimburse us for any of this is anyone's guess." Jim wasn't sure just what they could do.

"Can we just call our airline and get answers?" Johanna knew they had to be awake 24/7.

Jim pulled out his phone and showed it to her. "No cell service. Apparently where we are isn't…isn't New York City or even the States." Jim had had enough. He sat down, took his sandwich from his wife, and started to eat since they could at least do that.

"Do you have much in your bag?" It was all they had. Everything else was in the belly of their plane unless they could talk someone into getting it out for them.

"Underwear, shirt, socks, and some miscellaneous stuff," Jim mumbled around a mouthful then returned to eating.

"Yeah, me too." It was about all she had. She was betting Katie was in the same boat. "No shower, limited information, no hotel, no bed." Johanna looked at the seat she was on and then looked around. "Come on." She got up, grabbed her bag and Katie's, and walked away.

"Where are we going?" Katie wasn't back yet.

"Those seats have arms, these don't so we can lay down on them if we can take over enough of them," Johanna explained. Jim silently agreed it was a good idea. He sat down and took over two seats with him and his bag as did Johanna. Katie would be directed to do the same when she came back.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Katie was lying down while Jim and Johanna were sitting next to each other with all of their bags in one chair. Jim and Johanna saw everyone from their plane either sitting or moving all over the place. They'd watched as some had gone outside.

Jim had noticed that everyone was no longer looking for answers. "I'll be back." He got up and walked off.

"Where's Dad going?" The snack bar slash restaurant was closed so food was out.

"I don't actually know." They both were watching him closely even if Katie was doing it sideways.

He was soon back and Katie sat up and spread their bags out to cover the chairs. "I've learned the closest hotel is a little under 30 minutes away. Something called Cap Kivu. It's right next to the lake though so it might be nice." Jim shrugged his shoulder since he had no idea. "No pictures, no brochure, and no internet connection."

"And no cell service." Katie had already tried hers since she was using a different provider.

"We won't learn anything if we're in a hotel unless we call the airport every thirty minutes and that's if they don't get tired of us calling them and simply hang up on us." Johanna really wasn't sure just what to do.

"So we live in this airport or risk missing having our plane fixed?" Katie was keeping up with no problem.

"Getting the hotel will be at our cost since our airline isn't here and they aren't telling us anything. If we go we risk missing something and might not be reimbursed for the expense." Johanna still didn't know what to do.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

They elected to stay in the airport and didn't know what everyone else was doing save for the ones that they recognized from their plane who were there as well.

They had learned when the snack bar slash restaurant was open. And how to get around without losing their sleeping spot. They had even gotten a handle on not having a shower which meant wiping down in a toilet stall using wet paper towels.

Katie was coming back after doing just that. "Where's Dad?" She couldn't sit down next to her or they might lose a chair or two. Except all she did was point.

Looking where Johanna pointed allowed her to see him in line with someone who actually had a shirt that had the logo for their airline. "Finally!" Katie had high hopes. However they had to wait for him to talk to her and then come back.

Jim sat between them. "Okay, she has vouchers for a hotel if we want one. But that will still leave us with the same problem–" Johanna interrupted him.

"We have to check in constantly to see if we can get out of here." Johanna saw that coming.

"Yes, they're still discussing how to get the plane fixed. They're planning to send a backup plane but she didn't have a schedule as to when that would happen. Though it will be large enough for all of us," Jim explained.

"So what's the good news?" Katie asked since so far she hadn't really heard any.

"She came here from Burundi where the airline does have service. Apparently our plane flew past this point, turned around, and landed here which was the closest available. She came in a shuttle that can seat twenty people. Twenty lucky people can take the shuttle back to Burundi and their airport and either take their chances, make reservations, and be given a hotel room with communication. Or…" Jim left off they could stay here.

"Twenty people out of three hundred seventy." Johanna didn't think the odds were in their favor.

"It gets better. The drive from here to the airport in Burundi is almost nine hours and she only has the one shuttle so far."

Katie groaned and Johanna had a question. "So who gets seats in the shuttle she came here with?"

"Families with little kids come first. If she has space she'll pull family names from a hat based on how many spaces she has left."

"So what's the good news?" Katie asked him since there just had to be good news in here somewhere.

"Well…, they're sending buses but if I understood her correctly, her English is heavily accented, they're basically two old school buses."

Katie fell into the space next to her and landed on her own bag. "Nine hours on a school bus!"

That was when Johanna noticed others talking about it in family groups or couples.

"There is good news." Thankfully Jim did have some.

Johanna just looked at him while Katie stayed where she was but twisted her head a bit so she could see him.

Jim pulled three pieces of paper out and handed them out. "What is this?" Johanna queried as she took hers and looked at it.

"We're lawyers so I argued for compensation. Instead of the $400 everyone else is getting she gave me these," Jim said.

Johanna looked it over. "A voucher for an economy flight anywhere they go for up to $1,000." Now she was impressed a little.

"I thought it was better than a voucher for $400. There's one stipulation. We have to start and finish our trip in one year. I thought we could manage that," Jim said and smiled.

"You did well." Johanna liked it and kissed his cheek.

Katie got them both back on the immediate problem. "Nine hours on a school bus?"

"A school bus will hold what? Forty or sixty of us at best and there are three hundred seventy of us not including the crew divided by two buses." It wasn't hard to do the math.

That got Katie to lie back down again. "There is no place like home." They weren't going anywhere any time soon.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

They were deep into day two at their airport hotel in the middle of nowhere. Katie and Johanna were guarding their sleeping space while Jim was off to the snack bar slash restaurant to get something to eat and drink before it closed.

Rick parked the car right where he had gotten it. The United States had paid the owner handsomely for them to borrow it for up to a month. They didn't use up all that time so the lucky owner was getting his car back early and was still getting paid for a month.

"Go use the restroom while I go to the restaurant if it's still open and I'll meet you two at the doors to the plane. Hopefully Will's ready for us." Rick handed out bags and finally took his. He went into the restroom first and then dragged his bag to the restaurant.

"This is almost worse than I remembered." The choices were so slim but he was betting the plane had nothing.

There was an older man standing to one side of him. "It tastes almost as good as it looks."

"Definite selling feature," Rick agreed easily. "I take it you are familiar with this place." Rick was wondering what was edible.

"More than I care to think. Our plane had a mechanical failure and they chose to land here. We've been here for two days, quickly approaching day three," he told Rick.

"OUCH!" Rick felt for him. One more reason to hope Will was ready for them.

"Jim Beckett." Jim held out his hand to shake his.

"Rick Rodgers." Rick shook his hand.

"Rick Rodgers. Diplomat Richard Rodgers? They did a show on you once." Jim recognized him now since he had a name.

"You watched that? And you're still alive?" Rick was more than willing to laugh at himself.

"Insomnia," Jim admitted easily even if it was also a tease. Rick began laughing.

"Even to this day I don't know what possessed me to let them do that. I'm thinking I let Roy talk me into it then wished I hadn't. What did you think of the interviewer?" Rick had a secret.

"He seemed nice enough. …Why?" Jim could tell that there was a story in there somewhere.

"Thankfully Roy made them leave a lot of it on the cutting room floor." Rick leaned in closer. "That guy was a complete asshole. I think what he really wanted was to start a fight and make a name for himself. I almost gave it to him." Rick shook his head. It definitely was _not_ one of his finest hours.

"Too bad you didn't have my number. I would have represented you." Jim would have done it for a price.

"Lawyer, are we?" Rick thought he heard correctly.

"My wife and I are and our daughter is in pre-law at Stanford. We thought this would be a nice summer vacation while she was out of school." It had started out all right.

"And here you are." Rick couldn't help but notice.

"Be it ever so humble there is no place like home," Jim joked.

Jim heard his order being called so he stepped up to take it and waited while Rick placed his order and grabbed some chips and bottled water.

Jim kept talking since he liked him. "We were headed from Cape Town to Cairo."

"Cairo! Not exactly a safe place these days." Rick might have been somewhere else, but that didn't mean he didn't know what was going on around the planet.

"It was when we booked it. If we canceled we would have lost too much. So we decided to risk it. We're part of a group after all so we're not alone," Jim said.

"That's a good plan. I wish you luck. So…how long are you stuck here?" Rick was curious.

"The airline can't figure out how to get our plane fixed but they're sending two school buses for all three hundred seventy of us to take us to Burundi." Hearing that made Rick go rigid. Going there might not be as safe as they might think.

"Wish I could help." He couldn't really. His plane wasn't even close to being big enough for three hundred seventy people.

Jim attempted to prevail upon Rick to take them with him. "If you're going to Cairo you might be able to. It's just the three of us. By now we've more than likely lost our hotel reservation. Cairo has a bigger airport. We could at least get out from there."

Rick thought about it. Three people and their luggage, assuming they had their luggage back by now.

"My wife and daughter are right over there," Jim motioned and watched Rick turn to look.

Rick saw an older woman he took to be Jim's wife who was quite lovely. His daughter was also sitting there and she was drop-dead gorgeous. Both of them were surrounded by luggage as were a whole lot of other people spread out all over the building.

He knew this was a bad idea and feared that he was letting the brain below his belt doing the thinking, but his mission was a bust so he might as well help someone. "Meet us at the double doors. I'll take you to where I'm going which is a lot better than this place."

Jim was ready to kiss him or at least hug him. But he couldn't because his hands were full. "We'll be there and thank you so very much." They were out of here!

"Grab your bags, we're out of here. I've found us a ride," Jim said quietly as he handed over their lunches so he could free up a hand, shoulder his bag, and grab his suitcase.

"Ride, what ride?" Johanna needed information.

"Quiet, Jo. A US diplomat and his private plane. He said yes so let's go before he changes his mind." Jim tried to light a fire under them.

"A US diplomat? …Here?" What would a US diplomat be doing in this place? Regardless, Johanna coaxed Katie to grab her bags and follow them.

All three of them soon saw a man and a couple of women they hadn't seen before standing just outside the doors. One woman was blonde with big breasts. The other woman had black hair. Both were lovely though the blonde was maybe a little better looking. Marginally. The male, though, well Johanna thought he was too young to be a US diplomat and he was really handsome.

Katie stopped just outside of the doors and only had eyes for the man. He was tall, broad-chested, well-muscled, and incredibly handsome. Especially with his five o'clock shadow.

"Let's go." Rick got them moving since he saw their plane sitting there waiting.

Jim and Johanna had never seen a plane like it. It was clearly a twin turbo-prop. However, instead of the engines being on the front of the wing they were both on the back. It meant this plane was a pusher instead of the standard puller. In addition there were a pair of little wings just under the cockpit. It had a wide blue stripe down the side and the engines were the same blue. Everything else was white and it was open with its own set of stairs.

Rick went in first and took everyone's bags as they entered and stacked them in a small space just inside the plane's door between it and the closed cockpit door.

"Take a seat, any seat," Rick said as they entered. He ignored the questions from Gina and Paula as to why these people were coming with them.

Jim, Johanna, and Katie saw really big, wide, white seats along with an all white interior. There were four of them and each one faced the other. There was also a large sofa that could seat three easily.

The two women took seats that faced each other while Jim and Johanna took the other two.

Rick pulled up the door with built-in steps and locked it. Then he knocked on the cockpit door. "Let's go, Will, get us out of here."

Rick saw the young beautiful woman on the sofa and since that was all that was left he took a seat next to her.

They all listened as the engines started up and they were soon moving until they stopped then started down the runway and up into the air.

Johanna had to admit that this was far better than sitting and living in the airport. Also these seats were heavenly compared to the seats on any plane she'd ever been on.

Jim and Johanna were lawyers and thought they were good at reading people most times. The two women that were with them were looking at both of them like they had Ebola or something worse.

"I'm Rick." Rick held out his hand and couldn't help but look at how lovely she was.

"Kate." Kate took his hand and both of them didn't miss feeling something go up their arms at the touch. Neither had ever felt anything like it before.

"Who are you?" Gina wanted answers. Having Paula on this flight was bad enough, now she had three more people and one of them was young, tall, pretty but at least she didn't have any boobs.

"I'm Jim, this is my wife, Johanna, and our daughter, Katie. We're lawyers." Technically Katie wasn't yet a lawyer but that was a forgone conclusion.

That had Gina looking at Paula. "Lawyers." That spelled nothing but trouble.


	5. Chapter 5

**Bliss**

_Chapter 5_

They were rising up into the air and Johanna had to give this plane credit. It was incredibly silent. Especially since it had props she would have bet that it was terribly loud, but it wasn't.

Johanna and Jim had found the cup holders for their drinks. However, Kate had a problem. She still had her lunch in her lap to eat.

Rick had naturally helped her since he had his lunch and seen her dilemma. So he demonstrated how to lift the table to his side and behind him a little and fold it out in front of him. He watched as she did what he did.

"Thanks." Kate found it was kind of small but useful.

Gina and Paula had a similar problem since Rick had gotten them something as well. But they already knew how to lift up the one big table between them that they had to share. That had Jim and Johanna duplicating what the two women had done by watching.

Kate was brimming with questions but her mouth was full and she had no idea just where she was or where they were going. She had just followed her dad. She did look around, though.

It looked to her like everything was white save for the black seat belts and the back of the two seats that faced her. There was a white cockpit door that was closed and a white curtain at the back. It was quiet and comfortable in the extreme. Especially since everyone was eating and not talking.

Kate was close to being done with her sandwich. "Where are we going?"

"Athens via Sudan for a quick stop for fuel. This plane has a range of 1,979 miles. Not enough to get us home safely or out of South Africa entirely but it will get us to a safe airport for better fuel," Rick replied and took the last bite of his sandwich.

"Athens?" She thought they were going to Cairo. That was what their tour plan called for. "Dad!"

"We're three days late. Do you really think they kept our reservation? Besides you hated the idea of going to Cairo," Jim responded though his wife was looking at him with questions written all over her face.

That got Kate to shut up. Going to Cairo hadn't been high on her list of places to go, she was willing to admit.

"Going to Cairo at the present time is not recommended. A tour group filled with Americans might be safe or they might be seen as the perfect target. We'll be spending the night so maybe you can find a hotel and be a tourist. The Athens airport can take you anywhere you want to go." What they did wasn't his problem. Rick had only agreed to take them where he was going and he was going to Athens where they would get hotel rooms for the night.

"Aren't you a little young to be a diplomat?" Kate inquired since he was much younger than her dad. She was thinking all diplomats were at least her dad's age or older.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you. I'd like to think that I'm actually pretty good at my job. Most times." This trip had been a bust but part of that was because the president had recalled him.

"I didn't mean… I'm sorry." Kate hung her head. She hadn't meant to stick her foot in her mouth but she had anyway.

"I'm teasing so it's my fault. My age is brought up all the time. A lot of people think diplomats should be the age you're thinking of. It's just one more thing for me to overcome when I meet people. Usually it gives me an advantage. They don't think I'm smart enough so they try to dismiss me." Rick had gone through it a lot.

"Is it a rough job?" Kate was suddenly curious. He was young, handsome, and willing to talk to her.

"The hard part is getting people that are steadfast in what they believe to begin to see the other side. The worst is getting people who have been taught something all their lives to even begin to believe something else.

"The best example I suppose are some people of a Muslim faith who all their lives have been taught that women are stupid and only good for one thing." Rick sighed.

"Let me guess, cleaning and cooking." Kate offer since it was stereo typical belief.

"Actually, no. …Making babies. Only male babies. Female babies are a sign of failure on the woman's part. She didn't give the man the son he wanted so he kills the baby and her and finds someone else," Rick explained.

"That's insane!" Kate couldn't think of anything worse.

"I agree but try convincing them of that. Or perhaps what you have is another Hatfield and McCoy. It may be family feud or it may be religious. Far too many religious people believe that what they believe is the only true way to believe and everyone else is…unworthy of living." With that Rick shook his head.

"I don't think I like your job very much. I mean I couldn't do what you do." She really needed to be more careful in what she said.

"I'll admit it's not for everyone. You have to go in without a lot of preexisting thoughts or conditions. For example, think about religion in the States. There are Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and others, but just how many Christian denominations are there?" He was willing to give her a test.

"Christians? Catholic, Protestant. That's about all I know." Religion really didn't concern her.

Rick nodded. "Those and Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Non-trinitarian Restoration, Independent Catholicism, and a number of even smaller minor branches. Though the largest is the Catholic Church as you might expect.

"What might not occur to you is that not all or very few get along with each other," Rick said and saw the look of disbelief in her face.

"Think about it. Add the word Ireland to your thinking and think about that," Rick suggested.

"Ohhh!" Now Kate got it. "And this is everywhere?"

"It gets worse. A lot of Islam doesn't actually follow the same thing. There are any number of subdivisions of Islam. It's partly why Cairo isn't all that safe at the present time. Well, that and they're trying to get rid of a dictator." It wasn't all religion.

"And that's where you come in?" Kate asked.

"Cairo?" Rick shook his head. "It's far too late for me in Cairo. Right now one side has to win the all too real battle first before anyone like me could do anything. No, my job is to try and prevent another Cairo."

"So that's what you were doing here?" Kate wasn't keeping up with politics or religion in any location. Not even in the States. She was too busy trying to get the grades she wanted.

"I was until the president pulled the plug on us. I'm thinking we'll all be fired when we get back." Rick didn't know that for sure but if his boss had been fired he was surely next.

"But if he gets rid of all of you who's going to do what you are doing?" It didn't make sense to Kate.

"No one. …I don't know this for a fact, mind you, but it's looking more and more like America's getting out of the 'We'll help you solve your problems business,'" Rick explained. "He fired my boss just yesterday. I'm pretty sure I'm next." When he went so would Gina and Paula.

"But if we do nothing that means we're just going to let them…" Kate really didn't want to think it or say it.

"Kill each other off? Yeah. Excuse me." He had two other guests to attend to so he left Kate but didn't really get all that far.

Kate wondered if America didn't care enough to get involved and no one else did, what was going to happen?

He checked in on Jim and Johanna. "Are you two okay here?"

"We're fine," Jim assured him.

"I want to really thank you for this. Truth be told we were stuck back there and didn't know what to do. Nothing seemed like a good choice," Johanna added since he was the reason they had light at the end of the tunnel.

"I'm happy to help. My mission was a bust and I needed something good to come out of this trip." Something had to go right.

"Athens, I heard?" Jim queried since most of them had heard everything Rick and Kate had talked about which had told both of them a lot.

"I trust that's satisfactory. Athens is a nice safe place and their airport can get you anywhere you want to go. Even if it's back to Cairo." Rick hoped they didn't, but it wasn't up to him.

"It'll work." Johanna was happy with it. "We have trip insurance so we're good. We'll figure out what to do in Athens when we get there. I don't think we've ever been in Athens. Have we?" Johanna looked at her husband.

Jim shook his head. "Not me."

"There's a small kitchenette in the back as well as the restroom. Help yourself." Rick turned to Gina and Paula and saw the look on their faces.

"Something on your minds?" Rick didn't have a problem and since he was in charge these two shouldn't either.

Gina motioned him closer. "What are they doing here?"

"You can get out," Rick suggested since he was pretty sure when they got home he was never going to see those two again.

"Richard! This is a government diplomatic plane," Gina whispered, though not really soft enough. It wasn't like the plane was so big that they couldn't hear each other.

"And we're doing our diplomatic duty by taking these fellow Americans to some place nice and safe. So sit back and relax." Rick left the two of them and went back to sit with Kate.

Kate leaned into his ear and whispered, "They don't like us?" and was surprised when he turned his head to answer her and her lips were almost right on top of his.

"Sorry." Kate pulled her head back.

"I'm not sure they like anyone, to be honest," Rick replied in a whisper after leaning in nice and close.

Paula had a perfect view of everything and she was sitting there fuming. That…that _bitch_ was in her spot! Even worse she was sure they had almost kissed and she hadn't even come that close to kissing him yet.

So far he was being nice and Kate readily admitted that he wasn't hard on the eyes.

Rick turned to speak to her parents. "Your chairs can lean all the way back to create a bed if you want. I'm sure they're more comfortable than those things in the airport." He'd seen where they'd been sitting and probably sleeping. "What we don't have is a shower." Rick replayed that in his head and decided that that didn't come out right and cringed when he looked at Kate who simply smiled.

"We've managed since we got stuck there. We can manage here," Johanna said.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

It got quiet since there really wasn't a whole lot to do. Kate got up in search of the restroom. As she'd expected it was tiny and had just enough space to turn around in and not much more.

On her way back she saw the look Gina was giving her. It was a look she knew well. Somehow she was in the way and Gina hated her even if she hadn't worked out just why yet.

Kate sat back down and found Rick watching her so she leaned in close again. "She still hates me."

Rick took a peek at Gina and Paula even though he only saw Paula's face. "Ignore them."

Kate wasn't sure how she was going to manage to do it. This plane was too small for that.

"Is there something to do?" Kate was seriously tired of doing nothing. Lounging around in an airport with no cell service or internet and not much of anything else was getting to her big time.

"I think I can solve that." Rick stood up, went to the front, and opened a small cabinet next to the cockpit door. He came back with a pad and handed it to her. "Free Wi-fi on this plane with internet access." Rick saw her face break out in a really big smile. He liked the look of it and would do what he could to see it again.

Kate opened it up and turned it on but was surprised. "It wants a password." What did he expect her to do now? Guess?

Rick couldn't help but grin and leaned in close so that he could whisper into her ear. "What was the name of the red dragon from The Hobbit?" Rick lingered for a moment and watched her turn her eyes to look at him and as he withdrew he looked at her lips.

"Red Dragon…" Suddenly Kate smiled. She typed in the name and saw the pad come to life. "Thanks." She could almost kiss him for this. She had gone three days without the Internet.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

The next time Kate got up to go to the restroom Paula saw her coming and jumped up and took her space on the sofa next to Rick who was using his own pad.

"Rick? **RICK!**

He saved what he was doing. "What's on your mind, Paula, and if it's about our guests you can save it." He wasn't interested in hearing about it.

"Regulations state only government officials can be on government planes." Paula had thought up something new to argue about to get these people off this plane.

"Paula…" Rick had just about had it with her and Gina. He decided to raise his voice so everyone could hear him. "We are headed home because the president has recalled us. He fired Roy, our boss, and if that isn't plain enough for you, when we land I expect all of us to be fired as well. So what are they going to do to me? Fire me? As far as I'm concerned I'm already unemployed and so are you and Gina. You need to go back to your seat and leave our guests to me." Rick was done.

"Now, Paula. Unless there's something else you want to talk about." Rick didn't want to order her but she was getting on his nerves.

What Paula really wanted to do was ask him what about them. Except doing it here on the plane in front of everyone wasn't the time. She needed something far more private. So she got up and went back to her seat just as Kate came back out. Paula sent poison-tipped daggers at her as she went by.

Rick saw the look on Kate's face and he hated it. Something had happened and he didn't know what. So after she sat down he picked up his tablet and knew how to send hers a message.

***What's wrong, Kate?* ~ Rick**

Kate was surprised at the message and turned to look at him. If he wanted to talk why not just talk to her? She was sitting right next to him. But she humored him and replied to his text.

***We really aren't wanted here, so why did you invite us?* ~ Kate**

***My reason hasn't changed. What's really wrong?* ~ Rick**

Kate wasn't sure it was her place but she had seen this before and even been involved in one. But she answered him.

***They hate me because they****'****re both interested in you. I've seen it before.* ~ Kate**

That had Rick looking at her intently to try and figure out if she was teasing him or something else. However, he didn't see anything.

***Are you certain?* ~ Rick**

That had Kate turning to look at him like he was the stupidest man on the planet. Then she saw him look past her at either of them or both. Why hadn't he noticed it before and why did it take Kate to point it out to him?

***I'm not interested in either of them that way. How did I not notice this before?* ~ Rick**

Seeing that had Kate raising her eyebrows. Was he really that blind, or was he just dense, or was he not interested in women? Maybe he was gay which would be just her luck.

***You're a guy.* ~ Kate**

Rick was bewildered. What the hell did him being a guy have to do with anything? That wasn't a useful answer.

Kate abandoned her pad and turned to face him. "May I ask a question?"

Rick put his pad aside and moved in close so that they were now literally side by side and had their lips just an inch or more away. "Ask away."

His lips were so close that she felt his breath on her lips. She was interested in kissing him but that would just make Paula and Gina hate her that much more and she didn't need that so she pulled her head back just a bit.

Rick had decided to use Kate to make a statement to Paula who was watching because she could see them. What he hadn't done was notice that Johanna was also watching.

"Why are you a diplomat?" Kate was curious. He was young for the position in her mind.

Rick explained part of it. "Roy found me and became my mentor. He taught me everything I know. As to why me, I asked him that same question, too. He told me it was because I either cared enough or simply couldn't help myself to learn all the all the languages that I know. He thought that would be perfect for a diplomat. To be able to speak in their language instead of risking losing something in an interpretation that you didn't intend."

"How many languages do you know?" Kate knew only two even if she didn't get to use one of them very often and feared losing it some day.

"Twelve fluently. A few others I can speak a little. I need to work on those more. Being fired will likely mean it's going to be harder to do now." Rick was proud of his ability to learn new languages.

"Twelve?" Kate was shocked then they both heard Johanna and Jim "TWELVE!?"

Rick gave her an example. "Bạn là người phụ nữ đẹp nhất hành tinh."*

"What was that?" Kate couldn't place it but it sounded sort of like Chinese.

"Vietnamese. That area can have a few issues from time to time so I thought it would be useful," Rick said.

"Benimle evlenir misin?"** There, he'd actually asked a woman even if she was never going to know or answer him.

Kate just looked at him and waited for him to tell her what that was. "Turkish."

"Eto udivitel'no,"* Kate told him since she really was impressed.

"Ty govorish' po-russki!"*** Now it was Rick's turn to be impressed.

Kate explained why. "Da, ya provel god v Kiyeve i reshil, chto dolzhen nauchit'sya govorit' na etom yazyke."**

"Eto zamechatel'no! Otnyne my dolzhny govorit' tol'ko po-russki, chtoby razozlit' Dzhinu i Paulu,"**** Rick said with a grin as Kate laughed hard. He loved the sound of her laughter.

"Eto bylo by podlo,"*** Kate countered.

"Vozmozhno, no tak veselo,"***** Rick smiled. "But have it your way. …Please excuse me. Nature's calling." He got up and headed for the restroom.

That gave Johanna a chance to get up and sit next to her daughter.

"What was that about?" Johanna was curious.

"He speaks twelve languages and one of them is Russian!" Kate was really happy about that. It might piss off the others but she could get in some practice and she needed the practice.

This time Johanna leaned near her daughter. "Those two have been watching you two very closely."

Katie snuggled up to her mother. "I know. They're interested in him and I'm in the way."

Johanna couldn't believe her daughter didn't see it so she leaned into her again. "He isn't interested in them, Katie. He likes _you._ If he didn't one of them would be sitting here instead of you. So ignore them."

Katie looked at her mother with an _Are you ser__i__ous?_ look on her face.

Johanna groaned softly and tipped her head near Katie's. "Do what you want, Katie, but he's nice, he's handsome, he's smart, and he has a job. And he doesn't strike me as a thief, a liar, and a cheat." Johanna used her own words about her last boyfriend against her. "Ignore these two. Do what you want. Your dad and I will back you."

Katie didn't bother leaning in this time. "Dad?" They both had hated all her previous boyfriends and they hadn't even met the one she had dumped.

"He will if he knows what's good for him." Johanna didn't bother whispering this time.

"Leave me out of this," Jim said, having no idea what they were talking about. That got Katie and Johanna to laugh softly.

Jim just knew his life was about to get a lot more complicated and he was sure he wasn't going to like it.

Translations

**Rick**

*You are the most beautiful woman on the planet.

**Will you marry me?

***You speak Russian!

****It's wonderful! From now on, we should only speak Russian to piss off Gina and Paula.

*****Maybe, but so much fun.

**Kate**

*It's amazing

**Yes, I spent a year in Kiev and decided that I should learn to speak this language.

***That would be mean.


	6. Chapter 6

**Bliss**

_Chapter 6_

It had been a while. They'd all used the toilet once or twice and things had settled down a little. Eventually Kate found herself back on the sofa next to Rick. What her mother had told her was still front and center in her mind. She was willing to admit that he was handsome, he still hadn't shaved, and while she didn't want him with a beard, she liked this look. Though she didn't want any of his growing beard between her teeth when or if they ever kissed.

Then there was the one big positive. He spoke fluent Russian and she really liked that.

For about the last hour or more everyone had been silent until Jim finally wanted to know so he leaned forward toward his wife. "What did you volunteer me for earlier?"

Johanna just smiled; she knew he would cave in and ask eventually. "To be a father," she answered cryptically. She kept smiling when he settled back in his seat with a look of bewilderment on his face. She had him right where she wanted him.

"Rick?" Paula had her face plastered in the window and got Gina to do the same.

"Rick?" This time Gina tried to get his attention. "Rick?" He didn't answer her so she yelled this time. "RICHARD!"

Rick hung his head. He was beginning to look forward to being fired so he could get rid of these two. "What?" He really didn't want to hear it but if he didn't it would just get worse. The stop in the Sudan had only been for long enough to fill their tanks with fuel.

"Are we supposed to be over water?" Paula asked him as they both continued to watch.

Rick groaned. "We have to cross the Mediterranean Sea to get to Athens." Didn't these two know anything at all?

"I know that!" Paula retorted angrily.

"Is there supposed to be this much water?" Gina only saw water and not a speck of land anywhere.

Rick decided to appease them and turned to look out a window as did all the others. He looked everywhere and all he saw was water which he was admitted was worrisome. Then suddenly Kate's head was right next to his as she had left her window to look out his as if that would allow her to see more.

It did put Rick's face just an inch or so from the side of her face. He was tempted to give it a quick kiss but what if she didn't want to be kissed? She might see it as sexual assault. Lord knows he had gone through his share of classes to avoid just that.

Instead he got up and moved to a window on the other side and looked on that side of the plane. A moment later Kate's head was right next to his and he was faced with the same problem.

Then Kate turned her head to talk to him. "It's just water." It was just that as she talked she felt her lips touch his cheek so she moved away. She also knew what teasing could get her even if it was accidental.

Rick kept looking as he swallowed hard since Kate had almost kissed his cheek. She was gorgeous and clearly smart. Except this was a bad place to start something.

"Richard!" Gina couldn't explain it but she was starting to get worried.

"I see it." He wasn't blind after all. They should be crossing over water to get to Greece. But this was a hell of a lot of water.

There was only one way to find out what was going on, so he went to the cockpit door and tried to open it to talk to Will. Only the door was locked and wouldn't open. He tried again only to find it remained locked.

It didn't make any sense. Why had Will locked the door? He had no reason to lock it, so Rick knocked on it. When he didn't unlock the door or say anything he knocked again and called out his name. When that got him nothing he began pounding on the door and ordering Will to open up.

By now he had company. "Why isn't he answering?" Gina wanted to know.

"I don't know. He has no reason to lock the door. It's not like I'm going to kill him." Rick didn't get it.

"Well break it down or something!" Gina almost yelled at him.

"And do what? Beat him to a pulp? Shoot him with a gun I don't have so I can put holes not just in him but in the plane as well?" If Will didn't unlock the door what was he going to do about that?

He had one last thing to try so he picked up the phone on the wall that was connected only to the cockpit. "Pick up, Will. …Pick up the phone and talk to me." Surely they could work this out. Whatever _this_ was.

Rick hung up after a few minutes; he'd gotten no answer. That was when Gina started pounding on the door and screaming at him. Then she added, "Open the fucking door or I'll kill you!"

What Rick wanted to do was ask how she planned on killing him when she couldn't reach him unless he did open the door. Instead he left the cockpit door and went back to looking out the windows. All he still saw was water. Lots and lots of water.

Then he looked at everyone. Jim and Johanna had sat back down while Gina and Paula were at the cockpit door and Kate had moved to the seat Paula had been using. Since he had no control over what was happening he sat down where Gina had been and looked across at Kate.

"What's happening?" Jim only knew what he had seen and heard.

"I don't know. This isn't like Will. He's always been so stable and dependable." Rick didn't get it.

"Will?" Jim inquired.

"Will Sorenson. He's employed by the diplomatic department to fly the plane or planes since he's also rated for jets. We selected a twin turbo prop for this trip because the fuel in some countries isn't as closely regulated as the fuel in the States. Jets are a little less forgiving when it comes to the fuel they need. Besides this plane has a good range and it's really quiet." The quiet was the best part. "That and it requires less runway which is another good thing."

Kate and Johanna watched as a grumbling Paula and Gina sat on the sofa about as far apart from each other as they could get and still be on the sofa. It told both of them a lot.

"So, any idea where we are?" Johanna wondered. Now he had everyone's attention.

"The Mediterranean's large. Larger than you might think. But at our elevation we should be able to see at least some land in the distance. I didn't see any so that suggests we're somewhere else. The Indian Ocean comes to mind." It didn't make any sense but it fit what he knew.

"India!?" Kate asked, her eyes huge. "Why go there? Are you needed there?" He was a diplomat, after all.

"There are always things happening in India but nothing that demands the attention of the United States. Besides, why would Will know and not us? Even if the phone doesn't work surely the door does. He got in somehow." Rick didn't understand.

"There's not a little hole in the doorknob like a bathroom door at home you can use?" Kate questioned since she knew nothing about plane doors.

That had Rick grinning and shaking his head. "It's locked on the cockpit side and only that side."

"What if he had a heart attack? And he managed to turn on the autopilot," Jim posited.

"If he's incapacitated and using the autopilot we'll run out of fuel and crash. Except Will's only a few years older than me." His chances of having a heart attack were almost nil.

"How old are you?" Johanna asked. Kate was really interested in hearing his reply.

"Twenty-six. Almost a year until my next unofficial birthday," Rick answered easily enough. He was used to people questioning his age for him to be a diplomat.

"Unofficial?" Kate didn't see how a birthday could be unofficial, even if her mother was stuck on twenty-nine and holding when you asked her.

"I was born on February 29th. That date only comes around every four years so my birthdays are unofficial," Rick explained.

Kate did the quick math of twenty-six minus nineteen, almost twenty. Six years wasn't so bad, she decided. She had no doubt that he wasn't a virgin but then neither was she so that wasn't a problem. If anything it was a good thing.

"So now what?" Jim queried.

"We wait." It was all Rick could think of.

"WAIT!?" Paula erupted with Gina right behind her.

"WAIT! That's your answer?" Gina couldn't believe him.

Rick didn't bother turning to look at either of them. "What would you suggest I do? Will's the only one who knows how to fly the plane unless you two are hiding some new skill I don't know about. And our friends here are lawyers so they aren't likely pilots either. Though I could be wrong." Maybe they had a small private plane and knew how to fly something.

Kate shook her head and Rick saw Johanna and Jim doing the same. "So we wait." Rick had an idea on how to break it down, but that came with its own problems and they hadn't reached that point yet.

"Life jackets? Rafts?" Jim asked since they were over water.

"The raft is in the ceiling." Rick pointed at the door no one had noticed until then. "Life jackets are mostly under the sofa. There are a couple back next to the toilet and a couple are in the cockpit." Not that those two helped anyone except Will.

"So we won't drown." Jim was happy about that. So long as they survived the crash, that is.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate was the next one to use the toilet and had gotten a bottle of water out of the mini fridge and was just starting to make it back to her seat when suddenly the planet went down nose first.

She screeched in terror and ended up in Rick's lap. Gina and Paula screamed and they both ended up on the floor. Johanna and Jim grabbed the arms of their seats as had Rick up until Kate landed in his lap. Now his arms were around her.

They had maybe dropped a thousand feet before they leveled out.

Gina and Paula scrambled to the sofa and quickly put on seat belts for the next time that happened. Jim and Johanna did the same.

Kate found herself in Rick's lap and he had one arm wrapped around her middle while the other hand was on her breast. Both were holding her tightly in place.

She kind of liked it but this wasn't the place. Kate turned her head to tell him he could let go of her now except when she did she ended up looking down at his lips.

"I think you can let go now," Kate whispered into his lips even as they got just a touch closer to hers. Then suddenly both hands were gone and she found she missed having his hand on her breast.

Rick got up and took her with him and sat her down in her seat. He made his way past Gina and Paula and started pounding on the cockpit door again.

"Enough is enough, Will. Open the damn door!" Rick pounded on it some more until his hand started to hurt. Then he tried the phone again. Hung up and tried again. Then pounded on the door with his other hand for a minute.

Rick fumed on his way back to his seat, past Gina and Paula who were all buckled in and silent for a change.

Everything went back to be quiet again when Kate had a question as she was sipping her bottle of water. "This is the only toilet, right?" She pointed behind her just to enforce her point.

"Yeah!" Jim knew where she was going with this.

"EWW!" Paula was ahead of them a little or just now catching up.

"Bottle… diapers?" Rick offered since Kate had a point.

"Eww!" Gina was way behind and after she had she wished she hadn't.

"This still doesn't make any sense." Rick couldn't think up a reason for this.

"What was that?" Jim asked, meaning that sudden plummet.

"Malfunction? Fell asleep? Dropped his bottle?" Rick tried for a little humor not that it worked very well.

"Only one way into the cockpit?" Jim questioned and saw Rick looking at him. "Of course there's only one way in. Is there anything we can do?"

"And if there was what would we do after we were in? Negotiate with him? He isn't listening now. Kill him and crash and die? Pound some sense into him? That takes us back to crashing and dying." Rick sighed heavily. "He holds all the cards."

"What if one of us was sick? Need an appendix out? It works in the movies," Kate said and defended her idea.

"There's one thing we need to take into consideration." Rick had thought of a problem. "He has all the controls to the environmentals. If he wanted he could freeze us to death at this altitude. Shut off our oxygen and render us unconscious or dead. I hate to admit it but we're just along for the ride." They were passengers and that was it.

"We have the food and water and the toilet. Can't we negotiate something. He tells us why and we give him water or something to eat?" Johanna asked.

"That might work if he needed either. Remember the door was closed and locked when we boarded. If he's planned this in advance, and likely he has, he would have both those things already. I'd do that if it was me. Use the autopilot to get up and even change my diaper or grab an empty bottle." Rick tried to think this through.

"We have cell phones!" Kate got hers out and tried to use it. "No bars." Then she grabbed the pad Rick had given her earlier. "It's not connected." She let if fall into her lap. "He's cut us off!" He seemingly had thought of everything.

"He has control over the Wi-Fi connection also. So far it looks like he's thought of everything." Rick had to hand it to him.

"How far can he fly? He has to land somewhere eventually provided that he doesn't want to die," Johanna remarked.

"We're turning!" Everyone felt a really big turn to the left. All of them hurriedly grabbed hold of something.

"What has the idiot done now?" Paula was really tired of this.

"I have no idea. He got himself lost for a moment, maybe." Rick really had no idea.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate yawned and made her ears pop. Rick had seen that. "Do that again," he told her.

Kate looked at him like he'd lost his mind. Why would he want to see her yawn? "You want to see me pop my ears?"

"POP YOUR EARS! We're landing!" Rick bolted out of his seat to look out a window. Except all he saw was water. That had everyone else doing the same thing.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

About an hour later they could all see land and it was getting closer and closer. They could also see that they weren't landing at an airport. At least not one that was in or near a city. In fact all they saw was a lot of desert.

"Buckle up everyone," Rick called out as it looked like they were about to land.

They soon felt the tires hit land and start to slow down. Then they started to taxi somewhere.

"I see trucks." Johanna was paying attention outside. "And guns! Lots and lots of guns."

That had everyone looking at Rick had seen something like this before. Several were pickup trucks like Toyota, for example, except the bed had a big machine gun mounted to it with a man standing behind it. Others had men holding weapons.

"No uniforms." It told Rick this might not be a state-sponsored thing.

"What's that truck?" Kate saw something a lot bigger headed for them.

"Fuel truck. They plan on refueling the plane." That had Rick up and going to the door to open it. But just as he had the door cracked he heard a lot of yelling followed by even more guns being fired. Since he wasn't interested in being shot he closed and locked the door again.

Kate, he found, was right next to him. "What did they say?" She knew he spoke a dozen languages.

"I don't know. It's not a language I know which might tell us something." He went looking for some paper and a pen.

"We started in the Congo and I know this language. And this one, this one, and this one. That takes up these areas." He wrote down countries. "Except we were over water for a while and now we've landed and it's in a desert region with access to a fuel truck." Rick tried to think.

"If it was the Indian Ocean and now desert that means we're in Somalia. That might be just about at the edge of our range. So what's within the next 1,900 miles?" Rick attempted to think as they heard men yelling and more weapons being fired into the air.

"They're leaving!" Jim had been watching them and not watching what Rick was doing. That had all of them looking out a window.

"Will's firing the engines back up. I think we're taking off again." They had refueled them so what else was he going to do. "Buckle up, everyone." That had them scrambling for seats and Gina and Paula ended up with the sofa again.

Sure enough after rolling on the desert for a while they started picking up speed and were back in the air and climbing higher again.

"Doesn't someone have us on radar? Aren't they trying to call to him and find out what's going on?" Jim inquired since there were control and radar all over the place.

"True, but keep in mind where we are. This area isn't well developed. Only the major airports that have hard runways will have control towers with radar. I'm more concerned about some country seeing us as a threat and sending up a fighter to shoot us down and not ask questions later." Rick hated to admit it but it was possible.

"Oh, great!" Not what Kate wanted to hear. "If your guy doesn't get us killed someone will shoot us down. I really hate this vacation! …I have to pee." Kate unbuckled and hurried toward the toilet.

Rick watched as Gina took advantage of Kate's empty seat and sat in front of him. Gina wanted to watch him. Finally he would be forced to look at her and maybe they could talk before they were both killed.


	7. Chapter 7

**Bliss**

_Chapter 7_

They were back in the air and nothing had changed. Save for they now knew this was planned.

"They were waiting for us. They knew we were coming and they had orders to keep us inside." Rick was up and walking around as best he could. Besides, he was tired of having Gina staring at him.

"How does that help us?" Gina had long since tired of the situation. She was starting to question why she was so interested in Rick. He was a goddamn coward.

"They refueled us so wherever it is we're going we aren't there yet. They didn't kill us so they want us alive. At least until we reach wherever we're going.

"They had a fuel truck ready for us with fuel meant for us. Not just common gasoline for cars or the engines would never have started. They want us. They possibly knew where we were and planned this. That or that refueling stop was planned no matter where we were." Rick saw it as a good thing. At least until they reached who wanted them.

"Not to burst your bubble, but how would they know we were going to be on your plane?" Jim questioned.

That had Rick stopping. "Go sit down." Rick looked at Paula.

"I am seated." She didn't like sitting next to Kate but if she got up that would allow Rick to sit next to Kate again.

"In your seat." Rick glared at her, waiting for her to get up and sit down after she left.

"Good point." Rick didn't want to think it but who was behind this wanted him or Gina and or Paula. Perhaps all three of them.

"Who hates you?" Kate queried and watched him turn to look at her. The look she saw was one of pain and she was sorry she'd said anything.

"I'm a diplomat. It could be anyone we have had dealings with. Someone has changed their mind and blames us. It might not even be us in particular. It might be any US Diplomat that they want revenge on. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time." Rick couldn't think of anyone so maybe it was just because he was a US Diplomat.

"Except Will's the one doing this. He is part of your team, is he not?" Johanna asked.

Rick shook his head. "Will's a pilot assigned to whoever needs him. He was assigned to us this time. We don't always get him."

It was quiet for a time. "So who's paying him? Or is someone holding his family hostage?" Kate asked and saw the look Rick was giving her. "It's all in the movies. Is he married? Does he have children? Does he owe someone money? He has to have a reason."

"Blackmail, maybe?" Johanna offered.

"I don't know him that well. He isn't really part of the negotiating team, he just flies the plane. Plus without WiFi, Internet access, or cell phone access we're never going to learn anything. I doubt he's going to tell us why he's kidnapping us. He isn't even talking to us now." Rick sat back since he had nothing else.

"Stuck on a plane going we know not where at the hands of a madman. I should have stayed at Stanford," Kate moaned then thought about that. "Sorry Mom and Dad."

"We did reject your idea of a train trip across Canada and talked you into this trip. South Africa was fun at least. It was the trip to Cairo that got us in this mess." Johanna was now more than a bit sorry, too.

"Curse of the Pharaohs," Kate said and laughed a little.

Rick was willing to tease her just a touch. "Maybe if you confessed your sins." He grinned at her.

"Not even if you were my husband!" Kate replied quickly.

"I accept your proposal." Rick could play this game.

"You… I…" She saw him grinning wide. Kate raised the stakes. "Where's my horribly expensive engagement ring?"

"So that's a yes then. I'll find you the most expensive ring I can find after we land just as soon as I can." Rick's grin grew wider since this was fun.

"I… You think… I need a drink. Where's the alcohol." Kate got up and headed for the tiny kitchen so she could thoroughly search it. Then she stopped and turned around. "I'm drinking a bottle of your wine, Mom. All of it." Kate went in search of her suitcase.

"Might as well get all four out, Katie," Johanna called out. "If we're all going to die we might as well die happy."

The only problem with this plan was that all they had were tiny little plastic cups like a normal airline did. Still it didn't stop them from emptying the first bottle.

"South African, huh? This is pretty good." Rick liked it and opened bottle number two. "How many of these do you have?" Maybe they could all be drunk when they landed and the bullets wouldn't hurt nearly as much.

"That's a state secret," Johanna answered and smiled at him.

Kate leaned in so that her lips were touching his ear. "She had twelve."

"KATIE!" Johanna was not happy with her nor was she happy when Kate simply smiled at her. It was payback for convincing her to go on this trip or she wouldn't be in this mess.

Though it did get Johanna to sit on the last two bottles from Kate's suitcase.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

It did get things quiet since there really wasn't a whole lot to do. Enough so that the seats all got lowered down into beds and everyone on them tried to get some sleep. For some it wasn't easy, but for Jim and Johanna it was since they'd been trying to sleep on some nice hard chairs at an airport of late.

Kate had at first balked at letting Rick pull out the sofa into a bed since she would be sleeping next to him. However, the nice soft sofa called to her so she was presently sound asleep with a wide awake Rick lying next to her.

It was finally quiet. Gina and Paula were over there not complaining and Kate was sleeping right next to him. He grinned again as he remembered her wedding proposal. Now he just needed something to keep teasing her about it.

It had been a long day and he couldn't keep his eyes open so he was soon asleep as well.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick woke up to the sound of gunfire. It had him sitting up suddenly and didn't miss that he had found his way right next to Kate or she had found him. At any rate he was more interested in what the shooting was all about. He was on all fours on the bed and looking out a window. "We've landed. When the hell did we land!? …SHIT!" That had Kate stirring a bit. She rolled over and used an arm to search for Rick and when it found him she settled down. When she opened her eyes she found her arm had hold of his legs.

Kate twisted her head to see him looking out a window. "What's going on?" Her mind was still a bit asleep.

"We've landed and it looks like they're filling our tanks again," Rick told her.

"Landed. …LANDED!" That woke everyone else up. "When did we land!"

"We landed?" Gina moved to a window to look out herself. She was followed by everyone else.

What they all saw was something similar except this time everyone was on foot. They were in a line and were passing cans down the line, emptying them into the plane's tanks.

"Do we try to get out?" Gina wanted out of this.

"Didn't work last time and these guys have guns, too," Rick answered. "But maybe they're willing to talk."

He got off the bed, went over to the door, and started to open it. All that gained him was a whole lot of weapons fire.

"'Urid faqat 'an 'atahadath."* Rick tried to yell over the weapons fire. Then something unexpected happened. There was a knock at the cockpit door.

Rick instantly left this door and went to the cockpit door. "WILL, what the hell is going on!" There was finally some life out of him. Rick pounded on the door. "Damn it, Will, talk to me."

Kate actually got brave, got off the bed, and went up to Rick. "What did he say?" She saw him pounding on the cockpit door and yelling his name.

Rick went back to pounding on the cockpit door. "Come on, Will, put an end to this. It's gone on long enough." Rick kept pounding on the door. "Damn it, Will!"

Then they all heard one of the engines start up followed almost immediately by the other one. They started moving again. "They're done with the fuel," Gina yelled, actually being helpful this time.

Rick went back to pounding on the cockpit door. "**WILL!**"

"SHIT!" They hadn't gained anything this time, either. Rick closed and locked the plane's door then went back to the sofa to turn it back into a sofa. "Buckle up."

Soon everyone was in a seat with seat belts on. "What happened?" Johanna didn't understand.

"We fell asleep." Rick couldn't believe it. They had a chance, Will had even told them he was alive. Just unwilling to talk for some reason.

Johanna asked another question. "Who were they?"

"Muslims, I think," Rick replied just as they picked up speed and were soon climbing for the clouds.

"Chto eto byl za yazyk?"* Kate queried.

"Arabskiy."** Rick answered. That had Kate smiling for a couple of reasons. One they were speaking Russian to each other and two, she really was starting to believe that he spoke twelve languages fluently.

"Back to doing nothing, I suppose?" Kate asked him.

That had Rick looking at the cockpit door. "I don't think we have a choice. At least until we actually land somewhere and stay there this time."

Kate asked another question. "Any guesses on where we are now?"

"North end of Somalia to, I'm guessing, the south of Pakistan. As to where next I have no idea. He seems to be avoiding all the large cities and military areas, though. Plus just like last time they had fuel waiting for us. Whoever or whatever is going on they have this all planned out.

"I just don't understand why. We're just a simple US Diplomatic team, nothing more. And if anyone says CIA I'll shoot them." Rick didn't care if he didn't have a gun.

Jim and Johanna quickly raised their hands in surrender.

"So what do you think is going on?" Kate was tired of being held a captive on a plane and she was starving. They basically had no food and little water.

"I actually have no idea. None at all. We're just not that important." Rick liked to think his job was even if the president of the United States didn't think so.

"CELL PHONES!" Maybe they were close enough finally.

That had all of them scrambling for their phones. "No service." Kate was first and the others called out the same one by one. Kate was ready to throw the thing, as useless as it was, but she might be able to use it later so she held onto it. "Where do I plug it in? My battery is about dead."

"Every seat has one USB port," Rick replied and began looking for his charging cable to plug his in.

That had Kate staring at Gina since she was in one of the seats. All Gina did was stare up at her and didn't move. Kate shook her head at how useless she was and handed her phone and cable to her dad. "Thanks, Dad." Then she went back to the sofa and sat back down next to Rick.

"No cards?" Kate asked since that would be at least something.

"Strip poker?" Rick smiled as he teased her.

Kate grinned. "Maybe later if you have anything worth winning," she teased right back and wondered if playing with him just might be fun.

Rick smiled; Kate was turning out to be a whole lot of fun. "Unfortunately no cards. This was supposed to be a working trip. We should be filling out our report for when we got home. Not playing cards or watching movies or anything else overly fun. So far this trip has been anything but fun," he admitted easily.

"Amen." Kate heard that loud and clear.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

It had been a few hours when suddenly Rick and Kate heard something and turned to look. They were both just in time to see something on the floor and the cockpit door closing.

Rick was up in a heartbeat and at the door trying to get it open but it was locked again. Rick pounded on the door. "Damn it, Will, talk to me. What the hell is going on?" Rick pounded on the door again just to make himself feel better.

Kate looked at what was on the floor. "Hey! It's food and water." She held up a six foot sub all wrapped up and three bottles of water. "Maybe he does like us."

"See if you can find a knife and cut it up into six sections and hand it out. Then do the same for the water." It was all they had by now and it wasn't going to last long.

Rick hit the door one last time but didn't yell at him. He was tempted to say thanks, but he didn't. This little gift didn't begin to cover what he'd done so far.

Gina and Paula had all of theirs gone in a minute. Jim and Johanna were a little slower. Kate was following Rick's lead. They were nibbling and sipping and trying to taste it and make it last.

Still it went fast. "That was a nice snack but I'm still hungry," Kate commented, telling everyone.

Rick thought out loud. "One sub and three bottles of water isn't much for six people, but it would go further with just three."

"He didn't anticipate us." Kate heard that loud and clear.

"Maybe it's them they're after. They're lawyers. Maybe they pissed off someone. Made an enemy of someone." Gina was more than willing to lay the blame on them.

"Have you lost your mind? We didn't even know we were going to be on this plane until the last minute." Johanna argued.

Gina repeated herself. "If they don't want us then they want them. They said their plane had a malfunction. Now we're in trouble. They want _them."_

Rick tried to reason with her. "We got to Goma first not them. We got a car and continued on, leaving Will behind to fly us out. _US,_ not them. There were three hundred seventy of them on that plane. Anyone could have asked and I might have said yes. You've lost your mind, Gina."

Gina kept it up. "Yeah, we got here first. Will planned all of this. He knew they would be forced to land somewhere and knew it would be Goma. Then we came back early before he could kill them. Now he has a new plan. We throw them out and he'll rescue us. He doesn't want us he wants them."

Rick had heard enough. "Keep talking, Gina, and I'll tie you up and gag you."

Paula added her voice to Gina's. "She's right and you know it."

Rick decided a threat might shut them up. "So both of you have decided to become murderers because you're scared. How did you two get into the diplomatic office? This job isn't Murderers Are Us. That's not how the United States does things. Or did the president send you to poison this mission? You two keep talking and you'll be lucky to get a jobs cleaning toilets."

Actually neither of them liked being called murderers. It was just that it worked for them. Since both of them still wanted Rick they both chose to shut up and wait for the right time.

"Maybe it's just as well that we're all about to be fired when we get home." Rick was so done with these two.

"If we get home," Paula snapped since because of these three, getting home alive might not be possible unless maybe they handed the three strangers over when they landed.

Rick chose that moment to place his lips against Kate's ear. "Better stick close." These two just might be desperate enough to do something really stupid.

Kate only gave her head a slight nod. She was going to stick to him like glue.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Jim and Johanna were tired but they were also trying to stay awake now that this trip had become even more dangerous. Two of its occupants suddenly thought they were the cause and wanted something to happen to them.

Johanna saw her husband's eyes were closed so she kicked him. They snapped open instantly. He mouthed the word _Sorry _at her.

Since he was awake again she chose to look outside and take her eyes off of what was inside. Katie looked to be in good hands especially since she was practically in his lap which made her grin.

"Are we supposed be surrounded by snow?" Johanna placed her face against the glass to look outside better. "Make that lots of snow."

Rick let go of Kate and twisted to look out as did Kate, Gina, Paula, and Jim.

Rick answered the first question. "No." He tried to think. "Snow, where is snow hours after Pakistan?"

"Is there an airport this high up?" Kate inquired and the silence she got back didn't help.

"What's near Pakistan that has mountains. Lots of mountains?" Rick racked his memory.

"Ask these three where we are." Gina went back to that again.

"Stupid is as stupid does," Kate whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear her.

"I'm not the one trying to get all of us killed!" Gina yelled.

"You might want to stop yelling," Johanna suggested.

"And why is that?" Gina snipped.

Johanna pointed at her window. "Because all that snow is getting a lot closer."

"Please tell me this plane can land on snow. …On a mountain!" Kate screamed the last part because that mountain was really, really close.

'BUCKLE UP!" Rick yelled and scrambled to put on his seat belt as did Kate. Neither of them saw anyone else use their seat belts because suddenly the plane hit something and it caused them to bounce only to do it again.

Gina and Paula were screaming obscenities while Kate and Johanna screamed. Rick and Jim grabbed hold of anything they could get their hands on. Moments passed and they all didn't see anything else, save for a whole lot of white inside and out.

Translations

**Rick**

*I just want to talk.

**Arab.

**Kate**

*What was that language?


	8. Chapter 8

**Bliss**

_Chapter 8_

Rick groaned and opened his eyes but everything was a little blurry. Then he heard, "Oh thank god!" Suddenly he was being kissed over and over again. His eyes cleared up just enough to see long brown hair. Since Gina was a blonde and Paula had black hair he decided it was Kate so he attempted to kiss her back.

"You're awake and you're alive." Kate gave him a few more kisses and stopped to look at him.

Rick raised a hand to touch his head. "What happened?"

"We crashed." She thought that was obvious and she was really happy someone besides her was awake.

Rick sat up even if it did hurt. "The others?"

"Mom and Dad are fine, they're just sleeping as are Gina and Paula." Kate looked around to make sure nothing had happened while she tried to get Rick to wake up.

"Why is it cold in here?" Rick was starting to get cold and he could see his breath.

Kate tried again. "We crashed. Into a mountain with snow on top. The plane is broken." Like really broken.

"Can we seal the holes?" Rick attempted to think and then saw one of the holes. "Never mind." It was big, like really big. "Coats, clothes?" Or they were going to freeze to death.

"We didn't bring coats. We went to South Africa then we were supposed to go to Cairo. No snow," Kate replied.

"Well we better find what we can or we're going to be popsicles," Rick said.

Both of them knew a way to survive the cold. A whole lot of cold. It just meant revealing something that they had fought hard to hide from everyone.

"Go wake your parents, I'll start opening suitcases." Rick groaned loudly as he struggled to stand up. He didn't think he had any broken bones but that didn't mean everything didn't hurt.

He made it to the suitcases and saw the cockpit door was mostly open. "He's dead." Kate had already noticed the door was open and checked on the man that had caused all this.

Rick yanked on the door just enough for him to slip through and get inside. He found him slumped over and there was a fair amount of blood in front of him. Rick pulled him back since he believed Kate when she had said he was dead so he didn't worry about hurting him. "You're not Will! Who the hell are you?" Rick had never seen this guy in his life. In addition to that how had this guy flown this plane all those hours for as old as he looked. He had to be in his 70s or 80s even.

"What do you mean that's not Will?" Rick turned and found Kate at the door with a suitcase in her hand. "Who is he then?" Some stranger had done this to them? Why?

"Let's see if we can find out." Rick began searching pockets then even took his shoes off. "Nothing! Not even any money. No ID, no nothing." Rick looked around. "Looks like he ate and drank, though."

"Clothes, how are your parents?" Rick asked as he went back to looking at Kate.

"We're both fine, thank you for asking." Johanna was standing right behind her.

"They woke up on their own. Here's yours, Mom." Katie handed over the suitcase she was holding.

"So this guy isn't the man you thought it was. That's interesting." Johanna saw a mystery here.

"What I want to know is not just why but how an 80-year-old man flew this plane for as long as he did?" Then he saw a suitcase and picked it up and looked inside.

"Maps, charts, looks like landing spots. Northeast coast of Somalia and the very southern end of Pakistan and here. Looks like we're in the Kunlun Mountains. Not a good place to be." Rick had no idea how they were going to get out of this.

"Where is that?" Kate asked since she'd never heard of them.

"Tibet," Rick simply stated.

"CHINA!? What the hell are we doing in China?" Kate really didn't understand now.

"Looks like you got your wish, Katie. We're cold." Johanna couldn't resist.

"Not funny, Mom. Here, this one is Dad's" She shoved it into her mother's chest since she was now pissed at her. Alaska was a nice safe cold. The middle of nowhere on a mountain in China was not safe. And in a crashed plane, no less.

Rick took note for later that Kate was carrying and pushing around suitcases with ease that likely weighed a fair amount since they were larger than a small carry-on.

"I've never even been in China. I have no idea why we're in China. As far as I know no one lives anywhere near here." Rick was beginning to think big trouble, even for him.

Rick squeezed back out through the door and searched for his own bag then Gina's and Paula's. He started with Gina and Paula first.

Johanna pointed out the obvious. "They're still out."

Rick opened Gina's bag then Paula's. "I think I'll let you and Kate put clothes on these two. If Jim and I do it we'll get slapped or kneed and I would prefer to avoid that."

"I second that thought." Jim took his suitcase to the sofa, opened it, and started pulling things out.

In minutes both Rick and Jim were topless as they started layering everything they had followed by putting on another pair of pants and as many socks as they could and still get a pair of shoes back on.

"You two need…help." He found Kate was down to her bra and panties.

"Turn around," Kate told him. "TURN AROUND. I'm not giving any free shows today."

"Right!" Rick twisted in place and put his back to her. "Have I mentioned that red is my favorite color?" Kate was wearing a very sexy red bra and panty set.

"Then I should probably change to black," Kate snapped then suppressed a grin when she did no such thing and started putting on layer after layer. She liked the cold but if she didn't put up the pretense of being cold Rick and the others might start getting nosy.

"It's safe, you can turn around now." Both she and Johanna were wearing all they could. So were the still unconscious Gina and Paula.

"Damn, no red," Rick teased. He tapped Jim. "Help me move this sofa. Maybe we can cover at least some of this hole." It meant one less place to sit but Rick thought trying to cover the hole would be better than leaving it the way it was.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

The sofa was now standing on its end and the curtain that was at the back of the plane was hanging next to it. "There, it's best I think we're going to do." Rick stopped and looked it over.

"Food, water, RADIO?" Kate asked him.

"Radio!" That had him back in the cockpit with Kate standing at the door watching. However what she saw while watching was him finding a lot of loose wires.

"Let me guess, no radio?" Kate deflated a little since she had held a little hope in that it would still work.

"I'm a diplomat not an electrician." Then Rick searched for something else and flipped a switch. "Go try your cell phone and tablet now." He had turned both back on. If there was any power and if it still worked.

Kate didn't move; she pulled out her cell phone and turned it on. "No service. At least it's charged."

"You're tablet isn't going work either then," Rick guessed since he thought both were connected to the same system.

"Any suggestions? One that doesn't get us killed?" Kate inquired and hoped for the best.

That had Rick looking out the cockpit glass that was broken. "It's going to be dark soon so we're not going anywhere. We can look around come morning and see if we can see or find something," Rick said since it was all he could think of at the moment.

"On a mountain top in middle of nowhere China?" They were screwed and she knew it. She was going to talk to her parents soon and see when they wanted to strike out on their own. The cold was going to be a little cold but they wouldn't freeze to death at least.

Rick chose not to answer since he was afraid he was the only one going to escape from here alive. Though he was going to need to hunt for food along the way and hope he got lucky.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

"I'm still freezing!" Gina whined through her chattering teeth.

"Me…me...t…toooo," Paula added, her teeth also chattering.

All of them were all bundled together to try and keep everyone warm and it wasn't working!

Kate leaned over to her mom and whispered into her ear. "Mom?" She was thinking it might be time soon for them to leave. She hated it since she was learning to really like Rick, but she didn't want to die either.

"We'll wait until just after sunup. Even we can't see where we're going in the dark." Johanna whispered back just as softly.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick knew the sun was up and had been up for about thirty minutes, maybe. It was still really cold. He reached out a hand to lift an eyelid on Gina and then on Paula.

"How are they?" Johanna inquired since despite what they had said she didn't want them dead.

"They're both out cold. They're going to get frostbite soon if they don't already." He was thinking also dead soon and he couldn't do anything about it. He was also starting to wonder why the Becketts were doing so well.

"Maybe I should have a look around. Looks like the sun is mostly up. If it ever actually comes up around here." He hated to leave the warmth since the others could use his body heat but he needed to see if he could see where they were.

Rick stood up then suddenly the sofa fell over and a man wearing really heavy clothing and eye protection walked in. He looked around then pulled his hood back and lifted his goggles so they could see him.

"Wǒ hěn gāoxìng kàn dào nǐmen dōu huózhe."* Kate, Jim, and Johanna didn't understand a word he said.

"Nǐ shì shuí?"* Rick asked him in the same language since he understood every word he said.

He answered Rick's question. "Dàoqiàn, wǒ de míngzì shì Lee."

"What did he say?" Kate didn't understand a word either of them were saying.

"My apologies. My name is Lee." He spoke in accented English and bowed deeply. "We saw your plane come down and came to help. We are in time to help, yes?"

"These two are suffering from the cold very badly. We have no warm clothing," Rick said in English.

Lee turned to someone behind him. "Wèi wǒmen de kèrén dài shàng liǎng gè dānjià hé bǎonuǎn yīwù."

Rick translated for the others. "He's going to bring stretchers for Gina and Paula and warm clothing."

"Your traditional Chinese is excellent." Lee was happy to hear his words.

"I'm a little out of practice. Your English is equally excellent." Rick wondered where he had learned it.

"I try to practice as often as I can." Suddenly three men carrying large bundles showed up. "Please put these on and we will collect your friends and we can leave. Is there anyone else?"

"Just us, the pilot's dead." Rick and the others watched him turn and look at someone who immediately went into the cockpit after yanking the door open.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick and everyone else was soon wearing very heavy furred clothing and had tinted goggles to soften the bright light. They also watched as Gina, Paula, and even the dead pilot were carried away.

Then in came someone else or the same person; it was hard to tell since they couldn't see any faces except for Lee. "If you will put these on, please."

They watched as he dropped something at the feet of each them. "Snow shoes!" Rick was happy to see them.

Lee was all bundled up again and started walking, leading the way with Rick right behind him. The rest were scattered all over with these people in-between each person.

"Where are we going?" Rick yelled so he can be heard.

Lee turned his head. "We live near here. It is still a bit far but we know the way. You will be safe."

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

They all watched where they were walking with their rescue out in front leading the way. It was all snow with ice in the distance. They walked mostly on a vast plateau. They had even all turned back to look at what was left of the plane. It looked as broken from the outside as it did from the inside. How they didn't all die landing where they did was a miracle.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

They had been walking for what felt like hours and all they saw was snow. "How much farther?" Rick yelled.

Lee called back, "Not far. Almost there."

Rick didn't see how. They were on a mountain and had been going up all this time. He was fine and could walk for hours but he wasn't so sure about the others. Even Lee didn't seem to be having any trouble and Rick was guessing that he was in his 50s and maybe even 60s.

Then suddenly they were walking along a cliff face and there didn't seem to be a bottom that Rick could see. It was only a little wider than his snow shoes. However, he did see snowshoe tracks so they or someone had traveled this before.

Rick and the others just kept walking and walking and looking down and waiting for something really bad to happen. Like losing their footing or an avalanche that would wipe them all out.

Then Lee turned his head. "Almost there." Yet still they walked. Then when Rick looked up he found Lee was gone. He didn't see him anywhere so he looked down but didn't see him tumbling down the hillside to his death, either.

Rick stopped and saw the cliff they were walking on kept going, yet the tracks in the snow looked like they stopped just ahead. So he walked forward and suddenly saw a cave opening. Just inside he saw Lee waving at him to follow.

Rick walked in and kept walking. He had to duck a few times since the ceiling got rather low in places and there were a number of bends. Including one very sharp hairpin turn. It was also all gently sloping uphill all the way.

That was when he noticed that there was light and he turned around to see several people holding lit torches. One was right behind him. He had been so intent on following Lee that he hadn't even noticed.

He also noticed that it wasn't nearly as cold. There was no wind now though there was snow on the ground. Then the snow began to disappear and was replaced by bare rock.

Lee stopped to take off his snow shoes so Rick did as well and then they kept walking. When they made a turn he found that the light in the area suddenly got very much brighter. The tunnel was now clearly visible and had obvious signs of having been worked in the past.

Then he noticed carved steps and walked up them until he came to a turn and when he did, sunlight hit him in the eyes even though he had neglected to take off his goggles. When he did he squinted from the bright light.

A few more steps and he was standing next to Lee and looking out onto what was totally impossible. Completely impossible, in fact.

"We are home," Lee announced and moved him to one side and Rick watched the others walk past him and down a wide set of stairs into the valley below. Then he saw Gina and Paula being carried. "They will be cared for. They will be fine in time," Lee assured him and stood next to him and watched as everyone went past them. Everyone except for Kate, Johanna, and Jim.

The three of them stopped next to Rick and Lee and stood there gawking at what they saw.

Kate finally found her voice since it was impossibly amazing. "WOW!"

"I don't believe it." Jim stood there with his mouth hanging open. It was impossible.

"This…this…" Johanna didn't have words.

The sun was out and the sky was blue. There were a number of stone buildings and they were all amazingly beautiful with exquisite architecture. The closest was also the biggest and Rick could swear it was made all from white marble with stones that rivaled the pyramids. The entrance was a massive pair of wooden doors that had to be located on the third floor because of the steps out front.

Out in front of it was a huge rectangular pool that also looked to be made from marble stones. In the distance there were lots and lots of tall trees and even a lake. Along one side of the lake was nothing but housing and beyond that on this side of the lake were fields that had crops. And up the side of the mountain were tiers that had still more crops and houses, all of which looked to be made of white marble.

"I don't believe it! It's impossible." Rick knew for a fact that practically every square inch had been scanned and photographed from satellites in orbit. Some looking for oil or other precious resources or just taking pictures. Someone had to have been able to see this place before now.

They also saw a lot of people that were all dressed in summer clothes with a fair amount of skin showing. Men and women were everywhere yet the place almost felt empty somehow.

"Come, you must be hungry and thirsty and in need of rest." Lee began walking and taking off his heavy clothing since it was no longer needed.

Kate stepped up to Rick and rubbed shoulders with him. "Where are we?" It was a dream and either Rick needed to pinch her or kiss her. The only problem was what if it was a dream and that forced her to wake up.

Rick shook his head. "I have no idea. I've never, ever seen anything like it before. Anywhere. But I like it. I like it a lot."

Kate and the others could only nod in agreement. It was amazing!

Translations

**Rick**

*Who are you?


	9. Chapter 9

**Bliss**

_Chapter 9_

They could see the really big building but they still had a ways to walk to reach it. It was all along the side of the mountain they had just come through. Only instead of going up they were going down this time.

When they finally left the trail they were facing the side of the pool that had a few people sitting around it talking and stroking a hand through the water.

The group they came with pretty much broke up and went different directions. However, the people carrying Gina and Paula went up the steps to reach the doors that led into the main building.

"Come this way," Lee called to them and started up those same steps.

Gina, Paula, and Lee went through the open door but Rick stopped at the doors as did Kate. The doors were spectacular just on their own. They had to be eighteen feet tall easily and at least nine inches thick. Though it wasn't just that which made these doors or the entrance that amazing. Someone or several someones had gone to the trouble to carve animals into the door on both sides. Running a few fingers over it proved that it was totally smooth. Looking up just outside the building showed that the wood in this area went all the way up to the roof line. Nine feet wide and he couldn't guess how tall. It looked like five or six floors tall at least.

Even more amazing was that it had animals carved into it all the way up.

Rick watched Kate run her fingers over one of them. "Arctic Fox." It was almost even full size or maybe a young adult not yet full size.

Rick began pointing up the wall. "Ox. Walrus. Narwhal."

Kate pointed out two more. "Polar Bear. Reindeer. They're beautiful!" That was when she noticed that her parents weren't with her so she went inside with Rick right beside her.

They only made it as far as Kate's parents had. "OH-MY-GOD!" Kate knew her mouth was hanging open but she couldn't help it.

"It's gorgeous, isn't it?" Johanna wiped away the tear that had escaped.

There was an enormous fireplace right in front of them but it wasn't just any fireplace. The fire pit was easily six feet across with seating all around it. The seating was only broken up by columns that reached to the ceiling. They weren't just any columns, either. Someone had taken the time to carve the same animals on the door and the wall outside into these columns.

Then there were two sets of stairs one on either side of the great room. While the stairs themselves were spectacular since they used the same white marble, it was the artwork hanging on the wall all the way up that made the stairs look just that much better.

Once upstairs there was a balcony on either side that could be reached from either set of stairs and even the railings and spindles looked to be made of white marble.

Then Rick tapped Kate's shoulder and she glanced at him to see him looking up so she looked did as well. "HOLY…" The ceiling was all wood with huge exposed beams that all looked hand cut. "Rick, does that log have…" She was sure it did. "They sculpted animals into it, too." That beam was the biggest of the bunch and not only that it was also the longest, all the others were just joists attached to it and the wall.

All across the white marble floor were hand woven rugs for people to walk on or even sit on since there were large pillows scattered all over for people to sit on. There were even four people in one corner doing just that and talking to each other.

"This way," Lee called from the top of one set of stairs. When they all looked up at him they could see either Gina or Paula being taken down an open hallway to their right. The men carrying her were still all bundled up so they had to be baking since it was easily around 80 degrees in here with a touch cooler outside. Lee, though, was carrying everything he'd been wearing. That got all of them to finally take off what they had been given and start up the stairs.

The people with Gina and Paula had disappeared and as if Lee could read their minds he said, "They will be taken care of and they will recover. We have made space for you. If you will follow me." He started down the hallway until they all had to turn and keep walking.

They saw stairs going up still higher, doors that probably opened into rooms, alcoves that were all filled with sculptures or paintings or simply flowers in an ornate pot. Then he stopped. "This is your room." He looked at Jim and Johanna and let them open the door and go inside to look.

"JIM!" Johanna had never seen anything like it in her life. It even had a balcony or patio on the far side that was completely open with no doors or even netting.

"Follow me," he called to Rick and Kate and walked to the next door down. "This is your room. We will let you rest first and someone will come collect you for dinner. In this building we all eat together. I trust you will like it." He meant not just the room but the food as well.

Rick and Kate went inside and they both stopped after a few feet. "WOW!" Like everywhere else so far the floor was white marble with woven rugs covering certain areas. There was a seating area made up of large pillows around a small round coffee table. They saw a tall but really narrow bookshelf that had a number of books but space for a lot more.

The ceiling was the same wood as in the great room save that this room didn't have a huge beam with sculptures of animals in it.

Then there was the bed that was gigantic and obviously handmade since it was made of wood. Kate walked over to it since she was sure she saw carvings of animals in each of the four posts that reached for the ceiling. The linens on the bed were all white and very clean looking.

Rick walked over to what turned out to be a patio, not a balcony. Out there were columns in a semicircle that were holding up the floor of the building above them. These columns were simple white marble and totally smooth as Rick observed when he ran his fingers across one of them.

He kept walking and found himself outside on a large open patio until it just ended. There was no railing so if you weren't careful you could go over the side which would be bad since it was a really steep drop down to the floor below which was all fields and houses.

At this elevation he could see the lake in the distance and he thought he saw a long waterfall even farther away. There were buildings of all types and shapes spread out all over. Most were the same white marble and just as smooth looking, while others looked like those 1840s log cabins though a lot larger. There were people and animals all over the place.

Yet all around them were mountains that reached for the sky. It looked like they were in this large long and somewhat narrow valley. On one side of the lake were the farms and buildings. On the other side was a forest filled with large trees though a number of them were smaller than the really old timber. They were cutting down trees and replacing them with new for the future.

"Kate!" She really needed to see this. It was a lot like what they'd seen when they first entered this space but standing here was different somehow. She came to stand at his side then both of them saw Jim and Johanna come out of the room next to them and stand on their own patio area and look out.

"It's gorgeous! The snow covered mountains, the lake, the fields, the trees. Even the weather feels perfect. Where are we? And don't say China." Kate had never even dreamed of a place like this that she could remember.

Rick could only shake his head. He had never even heard of such a place.

Kate pointed out a potential problem. "There's only the one bed." Yes, they'd been sleeping next to each other on the sofa on the plane, but this was different.

Rick turned to look at her. "I promise to be a good boy and stay on my side."

"So you're going to spoil all the fun, then?" Kate teased.

"Don't tease. Please! You're a beautiful young woman who has a good head on her shoulders and a good heart and has proven that your smart." Rick was starting to realize that with little effort he could learn to love her and spend his life with her. "Ty udivitel'nyy,"* Rick murmured.

That had Kate looking at him in a new light. "Spasibo."* No man had ever spoken to her like this. Most of the boys just wanted into her pants and for a few she was willing to let them since she wanted into theirs. But this felt different. _Rick_ was different.

"I promise not to tease any more." Kate suddenly wondered if she was ready for this. Turning to look she didn't see her parents any longer. "I'm tired. I call dibs on the left side of the bed and first chance at the shower if there is one." Neither of them had seen a bathroom, though they hadn't searched the entire room yet.

Kate left him and went in search of the bathroom and suddenly found her and Rick's suitcases just inside the door.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate had moaned loudly as the hot water sprayed over her head and rolled down her body. She had really wanted to stay there for at least an hour. But she didn't know when she was going to run out of hot water or leave any for Rick so she had stopped and put on her sleep shirt and kept on her panties and climbed into bed and moaned again.

This bed was so much better than sleeping on that sofa on the plane let alone those chairs at the airport, which was becoming a distant memory little by little.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Right now she was awake and a little disoriented. Nothing she thought she saw made any sense. Then as her mind woke up she worked out just where she was.

Rick had at some point clearly used the shower and joined her in the bed. He was on his back and she was curled up next to him and even had a hand resting on his stomach and chest. He was topless so she was feeling skin. Her face was buried into his side and he smelled amazingly fresh. So much so that she couldn't resist pressing her nose in just a little more and inhaling deeply. Yeah, he smelled awesomely good.

Then she remembered she had promised not to tease him so she started to move very slowly so as not to wake him. Then she stood up and looked down at him. He had obviously shaved, he was bare chested and was wearing some long legged boxers. She had to admit that she liked what she saw. Then a thought hit her. Was he teasing her? She'd had sex with a complete stranger once and Rick was anything but a stranger.

She decided to find some clothes and her bathroom kit. Then she retreated to the bathroom where she cleaned up a little and got dressed.

Rick was still asleep so she decided to do some exploring. This place was already amazing. Kate started with how they had gotten into this building and went from there.

Kate had made it down to the fireplace where she saw people sitting. Lee had spotted her. "Good morning, miss."

"Please, call me Kate. This place is stunning! What's with all the animal carvings?" They seemed to be everywhere.

"We choose to celebrate what nature provides us. Even we are a member of nature so we choose to live like that. If nature is treated with respect she will support us," Lee explained while not really answering her question.

"Well I like it. I was thinking of looking around some," Kate said hopefully.

"Please, go anywhere you wish. All of our doors are open all day every day. Do you require a guide? I will find you one. They may be able to answer many of your questions."

Kate opened her mouth to say _no thanks_ that she just wanted to look around. However, having someone that could answer questions might be nice. "I accept then if it's not too much trouble."

"You and the others are no trouble. Give me a moment." Kate watched him walk over to a larger group that was just sitting there talking and drinking something. He soon walked back with a woman that was maybe her own age if not just a touch less.

"Miss Kate, this is Chen. She has agreed to be your guide. Ask her any question you like." Lee looked down at Chen. "Take her anywhere she wishes to go," he instructed and Kate watched her bow softly to him.

They both watch as Lee went back to speaking with the people he had been. "What would you like to see, Miss Kate?" Chen was ready to get started.

"Just Kate, please. Can we just walk for now?" Kate wasn't sure what she wanted to see.

"Of course." She started walking and Kate stepped in next to her.

"This place is wonderful. It is very lovely." Kate was still amazed.

"Thank you. We all work hard to keep it that way. Many of us are artists. Paintings, sculptures, or simple masonry. Woodworking, architecture," Chen said.

"Why are you telling me this?" Kate didn't understand though it was nice to hear.

"To help you decide what you want to see," Chen answered.

Kate made her choice and began to follow her. "The lake. I want to see the lake."

"What feeds the lake?" Kate inquired as they walked that way and started going around fields to reach it.

"Snow melt, ice melt. It starts high in the mountain and works its way down. It reaches a waterfall then enters the lake. It supplies us with all our water. The lake is also filled with fish that we collect occasionally," Chen explained as they walked.

"You seem to know a lot." Kate was impressed.

"My father is one of the fishermen. He fishes only what we need and only takes the largest that he catches and releases the others. My mother is a farmer, she grows some of our food," Chen told her.

"So you live out here? Which one is yours?" Kate was curious.

Chen pointed to her home. Kate lined up where she was pointing. "That's really nice. Why is so much of this place made out of this stone?"

"White marble. It is readily available from the mountains around us. We presently have little need so we do not mine it very often any longer except for sculpture," Chen explained.

They had finally reached the lake and Kate found it had a rocky edge at least in this location. She put her hand in it to test it. "It's a little warm but still cool." She thought it might be almost perfect to swim in.

"The water from the mountain is just below freezing. Once it reaches the lake it begins to warm up. It never actually gets very hot before it continues on its way in underground rivers," Chen said.

"What warms it up?" Kate suddenly had a vision of laborers shoveling coal into giant underground furnaces.

"This valley is the mouth of a mammoth volcano that collapsed in on itself. It is also why the soil is as rich as it is and will grow literally anything we want to grow," Chen answered.

"A volcano!" Kate thought about that for a minute. "If it's warming up the water that means it's active, doesn't it?"

"A little, yes," Chen admitted which had Kate thinking this place was about to go up in one big eruption. She just didn't know when that was going to happen. "There are a few safe pools for you to rest in. The water is very warm and the water will rejuvenate you. Would you like to see one?"

"Yes, please." Kate liked being cool or even cold but she had learned to like hot tubs equally as well.

Kate was soon following Chen as she headed for what looked to be the side of one of the mountains.

Eventually it started to cool down and they had begun trudging through snow though there was clearly a trail to follow. Kate was starting to like this part. It was nice and cool and it felt pretty good. She soon saw her own breath and that of Chen's.

It was actually beginning to get cold when Chen finally stopped. "Here," she pointed and Kate saw a pond surrounded by a lot of rock and a lot of snow; there was a fair amount of steam coming off of it.

"It is very nice, especially if you have a lover," Chen told her.

Kate grinned since she knew just what she was saying. "Too bad I don't have…" But maybe if she got up the courage she might have one.

"You do not appear to mind the cold. It is very cold here." Chen had noticed that she wasn't shivering or even trying to keep warm.

"I've always liked the cold. It doesn't affect me much," Kate admitted since it was now obvious.

"You are a shifter." It all made sense to her.

"A what?" Kate had to hold up the pretense. She nor her parents really knew if there was a danger in being found out, but it was safer to stay hidden. Kate herself had only ever shifted twice that she could remember. Once had been on a family trip to Canada during winter.

"You are a shifter. You can shift into your animal form and benefit partly from this even in human form. What animal are you?" Chen asked. "You are perfectly safe here." Chen waited but Kate was being quiet.

"Keep your secret if you wish, but I think you will be surprised with what you will find out here. Are you ready to go back now?" Chen had shown her the pool.

"Yes, please." Kate followed her and noticed that Chen wasn't having any trouble with the cold either. "You don't seem to be having any trouble with the cold either."

"Of course not. I am a shifter just like you are. My animal form happens to be an Arctic Fox. My mate and I come out here on occasions to have a little fun and enjoy the pool. Perhaps if nature allows I will produce a pup to care for," Chen said wistfully. No one had told her not to tell them.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate opened the door and rushed in after getting back from her little tour with Chen.

"MOM! DAD!" She found them out on the patio taking in the view as they sat there drinking wine. "Wine, where did you get the wine?" They were holding out on her and that just wasn't nice of them. "Never mind. …I met a shifter. A real shifter. Her name is Chen and she's an Arctic Fox! She lives here!"

Translations

**Rick**

*You're wonderful.

**Kate**

*Thanks.


	10. Chapter 10

**Bliss**

_Chapter 10_

Rick backed up when he heard the magic word and stayed hidden. It was wrong of him and he knew it, but it was too important not to listen.

Jim and Johanna shot up. "What did you tell her?" That was critically important.

"Nothing! Honestly, Mom." Did she really think she would blab?

"How do you know she's a shifter?" Johanna questioned since this Chen could have been lying.

"She took her clothes off and shifted right in front of me. She really was an Arctic Fox. She was all white, she was really cute and very agile." Kate had loved it. "Then she shifted back, put her clothes back on, and I came straight here. What'll we do?"

Johanna thought about it. "Nothing. We can't risk it." Safety came first above all else.

"She didn't seen afraid or ashamed and she knows something," Kate told her.

"You said you didn't tell her anything!" Johanna didn't want to be angry at her but she was getting there slowly.

"I DIDN'T! She took me to a heated pool that happened to be in a really cold area and she noticed that the cold didn't affect me that much. I didn't tell her a thing," Kate swore.

Rick spun away a little and tried to think. It explained why the Becketts weren't affected by the cold like Gina and Paula were. Then he wondered if any of them had noticed that about him as well. So far it didn't look like they had.

It was enough for Rick and he went over to the seating area where he sat down and tried to think.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Chen had found Lee and needed to tell him something. "Sir."

"How did your tour go?" Lee asked.

"Fine, sir. She is a nice young woman. I think she would do well here. There are two things, though. She mentioned that she and her parents are lawyers. Do we need lawyers?" They did not even have a courtroom or even a jail so what were they going to do with lawyers?

Lee did not know what to do about that either. "What was the other thing?"

"I believe that she is a shifter. If she is then so are her parents," Chen said.

"Did you see this? What type of animal is she?" Maybe this would shine new light on the situation.

Chen shook her head and shrugged. "I do not know. She refused to admit that she is a shifter. I got the impression that she is either ashamed of herself or she fears someone finding out. I took her to one of the heated pools in a very cold area. She displayed no discomfort being in that kind of cold."

"What does she know about us?" Lee inquired.

"I disrobed and changed in front of her. She was not the least bit scared. She actually appeared to be excited about seeing me in my animal form," Chen said.

Lee needed to think. "Try and spend more time with her. Try and find out how comfortable with being a shifter she is. It would be good to add shifters to our community. I need to have a conversation with Rodgers. We got him here, it is time to start to find out if it was worth it." It had cost them a lot already.

"Go back and spend time with Kate," Lee instructed and watched her bow reverently and left him. "Shifters." Could they be that lucky?

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate couldn't wait to try out that hot pool Chen had shown her so after leaving her parents she went to the room she was sharing with Rick and didn't see him. However, she changed into a bikini in the bathroom just in case. She grabbed a towel, put on a wrap, put on her flip flops, and headed for that pool.

Rick had seen Kate leave and quickly put on his swimsuit, then put on a t-shirt, picked up a towel and slipped on his tennis shoes. He ran until he saw her. He tried to stay hidden while he tailed her to that pool. From what he'd overheard he was curious about a number of things now and was hoping for some answers. One of which was how Kate fit into all this.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate walked into the area without a care in the world since the cold felt kind of good which meant this pool was going to feel even better.

Kate dropped her towel, took off her wrap and slipped out of her flip flops. Then looked at how to get into this pool carefully and slowly. Finally she thought she saw a ledge and stepped down into it, her foot instantly feeling the heat. With a little work she slowly lowered herself down into the water until the water reached her chin. "Oh, this is sooo good." Kate closed her eyes and soaked it all in. She really couldn't stay long or it might actually start to hurt, but for now, it was great.

Rick had actually lost her so he was flying blind until he saw her footprints in the snow. Following them led him to a towel, a wrap, flip flops, and a pool of water that had steam rising from it.

It also had a head with brown hair just above the water. Rick was in a quandary. Just what was he going to do? He came here for answers so maybe to get them he needed to provide a few of his own.

Rick dropped his towel next to Kate's, slipped off his tennis shoes, pulled his t-shirt over his head, and dropped his swim trunks which left him standing there naked. Her back was to him so she saw nothing and he was being quiet. He bit his lip and started to shift. He did his best not to make a sound even if it did hurt a little. It used to hurt a lot the first few times he did it.

Rick moved around and stepped into the pool. The movement of water got Kate to open her eyes. At first she was thinking it was Chen. Except it wasn't. Not even close.

"OH, SHIT!" Kate moved back until her back hit the rock wall behind her. "Nice bear, nice bear." Kate watched what looked like a colossal Polar Bear step farther into the hot water and watched it move toward her.

"Nice bear. You don't want to eat me. I taste terrible." Then she watched it grin but all that did was show her all its teeth, really, really big teeth. Rick's mind went straight into the gutter at her last comment because he was betting she tasted amazing. Still he kept moving toward her.

"Please don't eat me, please don't eat me." Kate squeezed her eyes closed. It was too late to do much. She was deep in the water and if she shifted the pain would paralyze her for a second since she wasn't used to doing it. That one second was one second too long.

Then Kate felt a lot of hair and a rubbing action against her face. She took a peek, barely opening her eyes, and saw the bear rubbing its face against hers. That got her to open them even wider. Then the bear did what she hadn't expected, it essentially settled down and pinned her to the back wall. But it wasn't eating her.

Kate decided to risk it and scratched the side of his face. "You're a nice bear, aren't you?" She found her face pressed into its fur. She tried to pull her head back and started using both hands to rub both sides of its face. "You're actually a big teddy bear, aren't you?" Kate cooed at him and began smiling.

Its weight was holding her in place but it was letting her pet it. Then it pulled back just a bit and she saw a big paw come up that had huge claws. One of those claws dug into her skin a bit right between her breasts and with one movement her bikini top was cut into two pieces.

"Hey! I don't have too many of those, I'll have you know." She had only two to be precise and now one of her tops was in two pieces. Then she found a huge paw covering one of her breasts. "You may be a teddy bear but you're a perverted teddy bear." Moving his paw was out since he easily had more power than she did. Even if she used both hands she doubted she could make it move an inch.

Then as she watched he began to get smaller and smaller. His white hair started to go away until instead of a bear pinning her in place, she saw something else. Or more accurately _someone_ else. "RICK!" She looked him over. What she saw looked just like the Rick she'd seen when she had woke up next to him and practically draped all over him. However, his hand was still on her exposed breast.

"Hi… Surprise." Rick smiled, leaned in, and kissed her.

It had been a big white bear and now it was Rick. He was kissing her and his hand was still on her exposed breast. She broke from the kiss after kissing him back. "You're a shifter!" She couldn't believe it. In nineteen almost twenty years the only shifters she had ever met besides her parents were two people and they were both on the same day in the middle of nowhere China.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Rick smiled and kissed her again. He moved his hand off her breast and she immediately missed feeling his touch. Only to then have him pull her into him. She went willingly, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

They just kept kissing and neither really wanted to stop. Then Rick moved to kiss and suckle at her neck which felt even better. "You're a bear." A damn big bear at that.

"What are you?" Rick asked her and that had Kate straightening her head, forcing him to stop kissing her there. She searched his eyes.

She was breaking her parents' rules that had likely kept her safe all these years, but Rick was a shifter. "Snow Leopard, I'm a Snow Leopard," Kate revealed, something she'd never told a soul until now.

Rick hummed and went back to kissing her. "I can't wait to see you, but first." He reached down, hooked a pair of fingers inside the bottom of her bikini, and pulled them down. Kate lifted up her ass and felt him pull her bottoms down and off her. He tossed it behind him into the water and then she felt his fingers on her outer lips which had her spreading her legs to give him room.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate collapsed onto him with them still in the hot pool. She was sitting on him and he was still inside her. Damn but sex with him was really good. Since he was still hard and inside her she started moving again and went back to kissing him.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

They were both naked and out of the pool and felt the cold of the area start to affect both of them. "Show me." Rick wanted to see her.

Kate smiled wide. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours. …Again."

Rick chuckled and Kate watched in amazement since this was a first for her. She'd never even seen her parents shift. She watched as he shifted into a Polar Bear. It looked and sounded like it hurt but it only took a few seconds. She soon had the head of the bear pressing its nose into her face. She couldn't help but kiss it.

"Okay." A deal was a deal and Kate started to shift. It hurt and had her crying out a little but soon she was standing there on all fours just like he was. She did her best to reach up and rub her face against his. They couldn't talk like this and really shouldn't stay like this for long.

Damn but he was big for a bear. He was easily many times her size and far more bulky since she was mostly legs. Then she watched as Rick shifted back to human; she stood there and let him hug her. It was a new experience for her. She had never had a human hug her and kiss her fur when she was in animal form.

When Rick stepped back Kate shifted back and found that doing that hurt just as much. Soon they were both standing there facing each other, naked. Rick moved in and wrapped his arms around her. Kate lifted her arms and slipped them around his neck. "Now what?" she asked.

Rick offered his opinion. "We get dressed, go back to our room, and do that again?"

Kate snorted out a laugh. They'd had sex in the hot pool. She was pretty sure he had climaxed inside her and she had climaxed twice. Surprisingly she really wasn't all that tired. "Perhaps we should talk first, Mister Polar Bear." Kate gave him a quick kiss.

"Okay, ask me anything, I've got nothing to hide. At least not any more." She'd already seen everything.

"How did you know I was a shifter?" She thought she had hidden her secret pretty well.

"Promise you won't be angry?" She just might be.

"I promise to be angry if you don't tell me," Kate countered.

"I was on the patio when you came back and started talking about someone named Chen who was an Arctic Fox. I took that and added the fact that you and your parents weren't all feeling the cold after the plane crashed. Certainly not like Gina and Paula. Then you came out here wearing almost nothing." Rick shrugged.

Kate rested her head on his chest. She wasn't angry at him. She was angry at herself. She'd shot her mouth off and she and her parents hadn't covered themselves by pretending to be freezing to death. Though now that he mentioned it she had missed seeing him not suffering all that much, either.

"Not angry?" Rick asked her and felt her shake her head. "Good." He held her tighter after that. "Maybe we should get back," Rick said, thinking they had stayed there long enough.

Remembering what Rick had offered had her smiling. "Do you have any condoms?" She was willing to take a chance once in a while but if they kept this up she was going to end up pregnant and soon.

"A few, maybe two or three," Rick said which had Kate groaning. Two or three weren't nearly enough.

"Maybe Gina or Paula have a lot more," Kate wondered aloud.

"Why would they have a lot of them?" How did they fit into this?

Kate tilted her head back so she could look at him. "Are you serious? They hate me because they were afraid we would do what we just got done doing. They both want you. I've seen it before." Kate was used to other women fighting over the main guy in school.

"Really? I just thought they were being stupid." Rick was a little shocked. "Well, they can't have me."

"Good!" Kate lifted up and kissed him.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick and Kate were dressed and walking to their room hand in hand the entire way until they reached the main level and went inside. "That's Chen," Kate whispered and tried to direct his attention to the right person without being evident about it.

"Our Arctic Fox," Rick commented and Kate nodded just a touch. "We can talk to her later. We have a date first." Rick smiled as he pulled her up the stairs and into their room.

Kate's bikini top was already gone so she was half naked instantly and found her bottoms on the floor a moment later. She moved to the bed and watched Rick suck on her big toe and kiss his way up her left leg.

She was soaking wet by the time he reached her core except all he did was blow on her and then he had her other toe in his mouth and sucked on it.

Kate found him kissing his way up her leg and she was squirming all over the bed. When all he did was blow on her core again she grabbed his head and pushed his face into her. "EAT ME!"

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate was resting on top of Rick. Sex in bed had been just as good as sex in the pool. Then she started chuckling.

"Care to share with the class?" Rick wanted to know what was so funny.

"Something Chen told me when she showed me that pool. She talked about couples coming to that pool to have some fun and maybe one day her mate would give her a cub." For all she knew she was already pregnant.

"I'll leave talking to her about being a shifter to you. If she isn't scared that you know, how many others around her know about her?" Rick was curious.

"How many shifters have you met?" Kate asked him.

"You're the second, not including my mother. The first was Roy, my boss. My fired boss," Rick replied.

"So no other women shifters?" Kate wanted to be sure.

"Are you asking me my number?" Rick teased her.

"No. I'm just curious." Kate really didn't want to know. "I need a shower and I'm starving." She had used up a lot of energy today.

Kate got up off of him, walked toward the bathroom, then wiggled her ass at him since she was sure he was watching her. "You coming?" Kate gave him a come-hither look and smiled at him. She went into the bathroom where she soon his arms slipped around her.

They were both ready for a little fun in the shower.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Neither of them sought out Jim or Johanna and neither of them accidentally ran into them, either. It wasn't that they were ignoring them, they were just looking for someone else. Kate was on the lookout for Chen while Rick was on the lookout for Lee.

Kate wanted to learn more about her being a shifter while Rick just wanted answers. Someone had brought them close to this place. And he wanted to know if they knew who the pilot was since it clearly wasn't Will.

Kate found Chen easily enough and got her to walk with her. This time they only made it as far as the decorative pool out front. It was decorative because the water was maybe a foot deep or a few inches deeper.

Kate began with a confession. She had told Rick and even shown him. Chen had shown her she was a shifter. "You were right. I'm a shifter and so are my parents." To be a shifter meant both parents had to be also as far as she or her parents knew.

"Why are you scared? Being a shifter should be celebrated, not hidden away." Chen didn't understand.

"I don't know how it works here but in my world if you are a shifter it might mean really bad things. Governments or even individual people may try to cause us harm if they found out. Or worse. They may decide that we are lepers and round us up into camps to live in under guard. It's been done before." Kate was thinking the Japanese after the bombing at Pearl Harbor or what Germany did to the Jews. Or what Bosnia tried to do more recently.

Chen didn't understand the word leper but the rest she did understand. "That would never happen here." She was 100% sure of that.

"You don't know that. People can change. All it takes is one little mistake. A shifter harms or accidentally kills someone and next thing you know all shifters are to blame." Kate had lived her life in fear of being found out.

Chen just shook her head. "No one has ever been killed here and no one would persecute a shifter for any reason." It was a set fact in her life.

"How can you be sure? People are different. The man you love may not be loved by all." People could just rub some people the wrong way.

"Because all of us are shifters. Everyone here is a shifter. Just not all are the same animal," Chen revealed since she and the others had no fear of being found out. Then she looked around and pointed.

Kate looked even if she was in complete shock. What she saw was a group of animals with big horns racing down dirt paths. They looked familiar. Then her mind caught up from the shock. "Reindeer…Reindeer games!? Everyone?" Kate went back to looking at Chen who simply nodded.


	11. Chapter 11

**Bliss**

_Chapter 11_

"Mr. Lee." Rick had found him up on a balcony on the very roof of the main building. Thankfully he was alone though Rick had to admit that the view up here was even better than in their room.

"Mr. Rodgers." He was happy to see him until he saw the determination in his face. He was here looking for answers. He had hoped to delay this day until they had all had extra time. It was looking like that part of the plan was not going to work out as well.

"It's time we had a little talk." Rick took a bench next to him and only had eyes for him.

"What can I help you with?" Lee was all smiles.

"Kate has learned that someone named Chen is a shifter. We can start with that," Rick told him.

"Ahhh." He was more than happy to talk about that. "Yes, she is. An Arctic Fox if memory serves. One of several," Lee admitted easily.

"There are more than one?" Kate had only been his second in his lifetime, not including her parents or his mother.

"Of course. Everyone here is a shifter, including myself. I happen to be a Snowy Owl. I used to be a really handsome one when I was young. Age is slowly catching up to me. My white feathers are a little more gray now." He did not see himself as being anywhere near as handsome as he once was years ago.

Rick was ready to fall off his bench. "Everyone?" Rick took his eyes off of Lee and looked out onto the valley and at the people that he had no information about. It could be a number bigger than he could imagine.

"Everyone here has always been a shifter. What else would we be? You yourself are a shifter, are you not?" Lee challenged him to keep him on this topic.

"I… How did you know?" He had told Kate who would naturally tell her parents so he might as well admit it to Lee.

"You just told me." Lee smiled at him. "You were not surprised to learn about shifters or that Chen was an Arctic Fox, only about the numbers that are here." He still wasn't willing to tell Rick all his secrets. He needed for Rick to stay here long enough first.

Rick was still stuck on _everyone._ As big as the place looked not all of it held housing. Much of it was farmland and then there was the lake. "How many?" Rick turned back to look at Lee.

"Last I knew there were 1,889 of us. You and your friends have effectively increased that number." He had known of Rick and his helpers being Gina and Paula. Gaining the other three was simply an unexpected bonus. One he was happy for.

Rick looked out into the valley again. "Just under 2,000 people." He saw the farms and was betting that they did some fishing as well. However, he had another question. "How do you survive here? I see the farms and assume other things, but why…why aren't you frozen to death?" They were high in the mountains of Tibet, deep inside China.

"Ahhh, we are lucky there. A group found this area by accident and decided to never leave. The land can support anything we plant with ease. The ground is volcanic. The heat from the sunken volcano sustains everything inside of these mountains.

"The heat rises and a little cold air manages to enter and cycle the air so that it is always fresh and clean. As such it provides us with a constant temperature between 75 and 85 degrees American. If enough cold air manages to enter it creates an isolated rain storm that provides us with still more fresh water," Lee explained. "It has never gotten colder than that or hotter in my lifetime."

"The heated pool." The one he and Kate had had sex in just earlier.

"I see you have found one already. They can be very pleasant. I remember when I was very young. She was a lovely woman and I learned to love her over time. …My daughter is around here somewhere." She was living her own life and did not really need him as much as she used to.

"Two thousand people in a hidden valley at the bottom of a collapsed volcano." He still didn't understand how all those orbital satellites missed this place. Unless someone knew something and wasn't talking.

"We should go inside. There is a cloud formation that will produce some rain soon." Lee got up and walked to get inside, out of the rain that was coming.

Lee stopped him once they were inside. "I will take you to your two friends. I am sure you would like to check on them. I have been told they will recover completely soon." Lee started leading him down sets of stairs and down hallways until he paused at an open door. "Your friends are inside. I look forward to see you again during dinner." Lee took his leave and went somewhere else, leaving Rick standing there.

Rick did need to check on Gina and Paula. They were his responsibility and the cold after the crash had hit them hard which now told him that they weren't shifters. He had no idea what they would think or do if they found out that everyone here including him was a shifter.

But what Kate had told him was also in his mind. He'd really thought that they were fighting each other position in the diplomatic corps or even within his team. Not because they wanted him as a lover or even a husband.

They were both pretty enough and Gina had a nice figure. But neither of them held any interest for him in a personal nature. Neither of them were Kate who was totally different. Agreeing to let her and her parents come had been a good break. Though what they had all gone through to get here was something he was sorry for. They could safely be back at the airport if not for him and his decision. Plus they still had to get home if leaving here even was a possibility.

Rick readied himself and walked inside, not sure what he was going to find.

"Richard!" Gina spotted him first. Now educated about these two and seeing them through Kate's eyes, he wasn't surprised when he found them on opposite sides of the room much like their beds were.

"Finally!" Paula was happy to see him as well.

"How are you two feeling?" He needed to know that first.

"My fingers and toes still feel a little funny but overall I'm fine," Gina said.

"Same here. So who are these people? They haven't told us a thing." Paula wanted answers.

Gina added her own question. "Where are we?"

Rick explained a little. "These are the people that saved us after we crashed. You should thank them or you two would be dead by now. As for where we are. This is their town, encampment, colony, whatever you want to call it. They built it in the bottom of an old volcano."

"VOLCANO!?" Both of them almost said at the same time.

"It's not active, so relax. How have they been treating you?" They had been treating him and the Becketts very well and hoped the same for these two.

"Fine, once you get past their accent. So far they all look Chinese." Paula didn't like anyone Asian.

"Well since I haven't seen everyone I can't answer that one, but we are in China, after all," Rick said, reminding them where they crashed. "Have they been feeding you well?" Rick and the others had found their food to be a real mix of things and not really true Chinese as they knew it.

"Only soups. They said something about not wanting to shock us." Paula was done with soup.

"Do you want diarrhea?" Rick snapped and watched both of them relent about the soups.

"Phones?" Gina asked.

"What did the guy that flew us here have to say?" Paula wanted answers.

"No cell service and no internet and unless you haven't noticed, no electricity." That was one more thing he and Kate had noticed. It was all oil lamps everywhere. Really old school all over.

"Seriously! Where are we? The dark ages?" Gina might be alive but she was not happy.

"As for the pilot he died so I don't know what he was thinking. Plus he was like 80 years old." Rick still hadn't figured that one out. "Also it wasn't Will."

"Eighty!?" Paula wasn't buying it. "Some 80-year-old man flew us for two days or so non-stop." Paula really wasn't buying now. "How did they manage to switch him out with Will?"

"I saw him before they took him out and brought him with all of us. He was close to 80 years old so he did manage somehow. I haven't asked about him since then." One more thing to talk to Lee about.

"So no phones, no internet, no electricity and I'm guessing no cars and since we crashed, no airport. So how do we get out of here and get back home?" Gina wanted to be home.

"We haven't talked about that yet," Rick admitted and began wondering why he wasn't in a hurry to leave. Though the answer was relatively simple. He wasn't in a hurry to leave.

"You haven't… What have you been doing? Or do I need to guess?" Gina's temper flared, betting that new woman was behind this.

"We've been a little busy around here and trying not to piss of the people that saved us. Or should we have left you there to die?" Rick was done with these two. "I'll talk to Lee about letting you eat something besides soup and talk about how to get you two out of here." He started to leave.

"What about you? You don't belong here, either. You have a job." He was a US Diplomat.

"If you'll recall, the president fired Roy. He's fired others and still more have quit. There's no job to go back to. Besides maybe it's time for a vacation." Rick wasn't adverse to staying a while.

"You don't know that," Paula fired back.

"Stay here and spend it with that woman?" Gina didn't like that idea at all. He needed to go home with them or more accurately with_ her._

"Yes," Rick answered and left them to each other. His talk had revealed that he had more questions for Lee but right now he wanted to talk with Jim and Johanna, preferably with Kate.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

He hadn't found Jim and Johanna in their room which was fair. Why stay in their room when outside was so nice and beautiful? He eventually found all three down in the main room, sitting next to the fire place talking. "There you are. We need to talk." He had a number of things he wanted to talk with them about.

Rick found a spot next to Kate and sat down. "You're a shifter." Jim started with that.

That had Rick looking at Kate. "What did you tell them?"

"Just that!" Honestly did he really think she told her parents about all the guys she had sex with. "It came out while I told them about Chen and all the other shifters around here."

Rick was ready to apologize yet it seemed they'd both learned the same thing at the same time. "One thousand eight hundred ninety-nine shifters all in one place." Rick shook his head. "I've spent all my life hiding who or what I am and suddenly I'm surrounded by them."

"Amazing, isn't it?" Johanna added since that was just what they were talking about.

"Katie tells us you're a Polar Bear." Jim was interested in seeing him as a bear. He was betting he was impressive.

"Yeah. Only by luck though. My mother's a shifter but I've never met my father. I was told he was a one night stand. So either he was a shifter or I got lucky or cursed depending on your point of view."

Johanna told him a little something about when she was young. "Katie called it a curse when she was little."

Kate defended herself. "When I shifted they yelled at me and it made me mad even if it did hurt. Every time they yelled, being a shifter turned into a curse. I couldn't do what I wanted."

Johanna explained why they'd raised her that way. "We felt her pain but she needed to learn it might not be safe."

"We've actually been talking and we want you to talk to Lee about it," Johanna said and looked at Katie to get her to tell him.

"We…we want to know if we can stay here," Kate told him, looking anywhere but at him.

That had Rick gaping at her. Then he looked at Jim and Johanna, still a little shocked. He was thinking about a vacation but not asking to stay there forever.

"We're surrounded by shifters. We don't have to hide or worry about being found out. It's the perfect place to be," Jim said.

Rick got it but he did see a potential problem. "This is a tight community. Each person needs to contribute something even if I don't know what that something is. You're all lawyers." He hadn't even seen so much as a policeman yet.

Kate answered that part. "I was taking art classes."

"I like fishing and do it whenever I can. Of course it's fishing with a fishing pole but I can learn. I'm not that old," Jim answered.

Johanna answered for herself. "I've done some gardening. Really small, raised planter bed gardening but I know how not to kill plants."

It was bold and Kate knew they weren't ready but she liked it here. "Come with me." Kate got up, took his arm, and dragged him behind her to get away from her parents since she hadn't said anything about this to them.

She took him outside and found a quiet spot next to the pool. What neither saw was Jim and Johanna had followed them but stopped at the top of the stairs and watched. Once there they both smelled the quick rain shower that had blown through and left everything a little wet.

Kate sat down and pulled him down with her and took his hands in hers. It meant her butt got a little wet but she felt it was worth it. "This is all new to me and I know we're not ready for this, but I want to ask…" Her voice trailed off. She looked at him and said, "We've decided to stay if they'll let us. I'm not going to miss going to school. I'm not going to miss having a car, or movie theaters, or bars filled with drunk people and guys that want to grope me after they've had too much.

"I don't have to hide. There's no pollution, it's warm and I can be cold if I want to." Kate paused since she still had the big question that scared her.

"I hear a _but_ coming." Rick was still working on why she had to hold his hands and pull him all the way out here.

"Sort of." Kate took a deep breath and went for it. "I want you to think about staying with us. I like you and I want you to stay." There she'd said it. She knew it was far too soon but he might decide to leave with Gina or Paula if they actually could leave and end any future they might have.

Rick had thought about asking to stay for a vacation even after Gina and Paula were gone, but to stay forever and stay because of Kate? It almost sounded like she was asking him to marry her.

"Please, just think about it. You don't have to answer me now. I just…" Kate knew she was asking a lot. She could feel her heart pounding so she leaned across and kissed him. Then she got up and ran to their room, running past her parents who were still watching.

Rick watched her run and saw her parents watching.

"Stay." Rick was still stuck on that.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Finding Lee was once again really easy. Rick approached him. "Just the person I was looking for."

"Mr. Rodgers. What can I help you with?" He was sure he had more questions, he just hoped he was ready to answer them.

"Gina and Paula want to leave and Kate, Jim, and Johanna want to stay." Rick started with that.

He was not surprised by any of that. Especially since Gina and Paula were obviously not shifters. He was happy to save their lives but he did not see them living here. As for the other three he could just tell they were shifters and besides, Chen had told him so. He was more than happy to let them stay. They could talk and see how they fit into their community.

"As for the two women we do occasionally have a group of porters that deliver items that they can carry here and that we have asked them for after their last visit," Lee said.

"How do you contact them?" He hadn't seen anything like a radio, cell phone tower, or even electricity that would allow it.

"We do not. They simply show up when they are ready. Actually we are expecting a delivery any time now. Anywhere between a few months ago to a year from now," Lee told him.

"So that's the only way out?" Rick wasn't sure Gina or Paula were going to like that.

"Yes, none of us even know how to get to them let alone farther out. We have no reason to want to leave. We have everything we want here. What the porters bring is simply extra," Lee admitted. "As for the your three friends they are welcome to stay after we talk. We are a small community and we need to talk."

"They've already thought about that. Jim knows how to fish but is willing to learn how to fish bigger. Johanna knows how to farm vegetables and Kate has taken art classes. In what she didn't say," Rick revealed.

Lee was actually a little impressed. All of that was useful but they still needed to talk. "And you?" Did he even have to tell him his big secret that might scare him off.

Rick wasn't telling him that Kate had asked him to stay. He didn't think he needed to know that. "I haven't really decided just what to do. I was thinking about asking if I could stay for an extended vacation, except if the only way out and in is by these porters I'm not sure what to do." He didn't know for a fact that he was going to be fired but he could see the writing on the wall. America was changing and his job wasn't going to be needed based on where America was going now. He wasn't sure it was changing for the better.

Lee had wished he did not need to do this but that was wishful thinking. "There is one thing we need to talk about." Rick was sure the other shoe was about to drop and that he wasn't going to like it.

"I am the leader here and I am getting older. It is time for a young person to replace me. Someone that has new ideas, someone that can bind our community together, young and old and be a shifter that is a leader," Lee began.

"Me, you want me to stay and replace you." Rick wasn't stupid.

"I do but there is one more thing that you should know and I am not sorry we did it. You are needed here very much." Lee knew he was going to be shocked and probably angry.

"We chose you based on what we could learn about you. We arranged to bring you here. One of us volunteered to be the pilot. He knew the risks and with the help of the porters we arranged for refueling," Lee finally admitted.

"YOU KIDNAPPED ME! …US?" Rick was suddenly furious.

"You may leave if that is what you truly want. We had hoped you would see the benefits of living here." Lee sat there with his head bowed.

"Live here after being kidnapped?" He had lost his mind. Kate wanted him to stay but to find out that they had all been kidnapped made him want to run as far away from these people as he could get. The rest might think the same especially Gina and Paula.

Lee had one last card to play in his hand. "I was born here. How old to you think I am?"

"Like I care!" Rick was still furious but he hadn't gotten up and run for his room or told everyone else what he had learned. Lee did not say anything.

"How old do you think I am?" Lee was undeterred and kept asking him about his age.

Rick didn't want to but he was a diplomat so he humored him. "Seventy something, 80 at the most."

"I am presently 497 years old," Lee said.

"Like hell." It was very unprofessional of him but he was pissed so didn't care.

"Chen is 76 years old herself," Lee told him.

It wasn't possible. No one could live that long. The body just couldn't support anyone living that long. "That is not possible." Just looking at Chen he was betting she was 17 or maybe 18 years old. Seventy-six was impossible.

"We have nothing to hide, Mr. Rodgers. Ask anyone here any question you wish, including their age. Lying does not gain anyone anything so we do not lie. We have no theft, there is no violence for any reason, no pollution, fresh everything and you have tasted most all of our food by now." Lee tried to get him to see the benefits.

"As old or as young as you may think I am we are in need of someone to replace me. You have the experience to do just that. I am told you speak several languages including the traditional Chinese that is common here even if most everyone speaks and understands English and a few other languages.

"Your friends have expressed a desire to stay. You could stay with them. I will teach you all you need to know and still be around while you start to take over and meet everyone here and what they need. You are needed here.

"Do you really want to go back? Is there something back there that is calling to you?" His information he had said no, but Rick needed to work that out for himself. He had told him everything and tried to get him to see the benefits of staying.

Right now Rick was too pissed to think straight but his diplomatic training was telling him not to jump to a decision while being angry.


	12. Chapter 12

**Bliss**

_Chapter 12_

Kate didn't see Rick for the rest of the day. She had no idea where he was and feared that she had scared him away, that he'd asked for a different room to stay in. The only thing that gave her some hope was that all of his bags and clothes were still there.

In fact it gave her an idea as she got ready for bed. She showered first and didn't even think about the fact that it was a hot shower in a bathroom that was filled with white marble, just like the rest of this building. It was all lovely but her mind wasn't on that.

She put on a fresh pair of panties and didn't even consider how they and all the rest of her clothes were getting cleaned. That would come later. Then she put on a shirt, got into bed, and sat there and waited.

She had never felt like this before. She was worried that she'd scared him away and yet why was she scared? She didn't love him. At least not yet she told herself. It was just… She liked him, she knew that. She knew why she'd asked him but that didn't really help at the moment.

The longer it took for him to show up the more worried she got. Maybe she should have waited. Maybe it was just sex for him and he didn't want to get involved with her. She couldn't believe that either Gina or Paula had gotten to him. Those two were such a waste of space. Still she had seen something like it before. Men liked blondes with big boobs. Some liked those same women because they were brain dead with brains the size of a peanut.

She didn't want to think that Rick was one of those men. He struck her as being far too smart for that. He'd told her that he liked that she had a good head on her shoulders and a good heart. But had she moved too fast and pushed him too far?

Then he walked in through the open door and headed straight for the bathroom, never even looking her way. At least he was here and he didn't go directly to his bags so he could pick them up and move out. Kate moved to a different position on the bed so she could watch the bathroom easier and wait.

Finally he came out wearing a towel, found something in one of his bags, and went back into the bathroom. Kate told herself he was putting on those long legged shorts that he liked to wear to bed.

Then sure enough he walked out wearing them. His hair was still a little wet and he was starting to have that 5 o'clock shadow that she very much liked on him. Not a full beard since she hated that, but not so long that it was rough to the touch.

Rick stopped at the edge of the bed and finally noticed Kate sitting on it. He was willing to admit that he was shocked, but he was more shocked that his mind was so preoccupied with what Lee had told him that he hadn't even noticed her.

Rick gave her a weak smile. "Hi."

"Hi." Kate patted the bed in front of her; he climbed onto the bed and sat in front of her. Kate opened her mouth to ask him if he was okay. If they were okay. Instead he spoke first.

"I've learned something you and the others need to know." He still couldn't believe it so how was he going to tell them?

"Okay." Kate replied softly not sure what he was going to say. She clung to the word _others, _ meaning not just her. So maybe he wasn't dumping her before they were even a couple even if they were having sex.

"You remember the pilot wasn't Will and that he looked like he was close to 80 years old?" Rick started there, trying to lead up to what he had learned.

Kate simply nodded and waited.

"Lee told me that he sent him. These people arranged for the refueling sites. They intentionally kidnapped us. …Kidnapped me." Rick hung his head. They were after him and because of him Kate and everyone else was kidnapped along with him.

"You." Kate wasn't following and what did he mean kidnapped? She wasn't being held against her will. In fact she could and had gone anywhere she wanted to go. So had he and her parents.

"Lee says he's getting old and he wants me to replace him so he arranged to kidnap me and bring me here. Everyone else is here because of me. He wants me to be in control of this place. To do what he's doing." Rick tried his best to explain but he was still in shock over it all.

That had Kate opening and closing her mouth. She'd already worked out that someone had brought them here or at least somewhere around here. After all the pilot was 80 years old he simply hadn't made it all the way and crashed here.

But these people had sent him and now the crash wasn't an accident. It was intentional. The more Kate thought about it the more she believed there was something that wasn't adding up. "They said they saw our plane crash. So did they see it crash? Or do they have a radio and electricity that we haven't seen yet?"

"Does it matter? They kidnapped us and crashed us here. You're here because they want me." Rick couldn't get past that part.

"Okay." Kate was listening but did it really change anything? "Is that all?"

"Is that…" Rick didn't understand why she wasn't as pissed off as he was. Rick opened his mouth to question her about just that but closed it again.

"He also told me something really insane. He claims that he's almost 500 years old. Not only that but your young friend Chen? He claims she's almost 80 years old," Rick told her since it had to be impossible. Living that long was impossible, so what was Lee trying to achieve by lying to him about his age?

"That's nuts!" Kate didn't believe it for a moment, either. "No one can live that long and Chen's younger than I am. Did he explain how this was possible?" Rick shook his head.

Kate was rather silent as she thought about what he'd told her. "Why aren't you furious? They kidnapped us and forced us to come here." Rick didn't understand why she wasn't angry.

"Because I don't feel kidnapped. My parents are here so who are they going to get the money from to release me? Besides, I like it here. I'm surrounded by beauty and more shifters than I've ever dreamed even existed. Don't you like it here?" So they hadn't planned on being here. No one was forcing them to stay even if they didn't know what it took to get out.

Rick opened and closed his mouth a few times trying to explain that they were trapped here, except that they weren't if these porters were real and showed up.

"You don't want to stay." This place and she wasn't enough for him. She was going to miss a few things but what she thought she was gaining more than made up for that. "As impossible as it is, what if he's right and he _is_ 500 years old? To live here for the next 500 years." Kate waved her arms at all the beauty that was just in this room alone. "Weren't you the one that said you were going to be fired when you got home?" she queried.

"Yeah." Rick started to calm down a little.

"If there are 2,000 people here can all of them be in on bringing us here? Part of this age idea? Can we all spread out and talk to everyone we can find and start asking questions? I can talk to Mom and Dad tomorrow." If it was just Lee maybe they could make it blow up in his face. Then they could decide what to do.

Rick was calmer now. "Yeah. …Is that my shirt?" Suddenly he was seeing Kate who was sitting right across from him and it looked like she was wearing one of his shirts. Even more than that, she only had one or two buttons buttoned. If she moved just right he was going to get to see one of her breasts since it looked like she wasn't wearing a bra.

Kate smiled. "I decided to borrow it. You can have it back if you want it." She reached for one of the buttons that was buttoned but stopped. Then she sat up straighter. "You can take it off me if you want it back that badly." She bit her lower lip to hide her smile.

Then Rick got up and crawled across the bed until his lips were an inch or two from hers. She stopped biting her lower lip and began smiling. "You are an evil woman," Rick declared. That was in addition to sexy, maybe far too logical since he still wanted to be angry at Lee, not to mention desirable.

"You ain't seen nothing yet." Kate closed the gap between them and kissed him.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Jim and Johanna had skipped breakfast and were walking far into the very border, toward the waterfall. It was decided that the people in the main building might be in on what Lee had done to bring them here as well as in on this age thing. However the people way in the edge of their land might not be as involved. Plus they really wanted to see what was back here. Who knows, maybe they would spot just the right space to build a home on.

"You believe this age thing?" Johanna asked her husband as they walked.

"Live 500 years? Not a chance in hell. Though I am still trying to work out just what it took to get us here. I mean we're deep in some mountain range in China and we used to be in the Congo after our plane has a maintenance issue. How did they manage all that from here?" Jim was having trouble wrapping his mind around that.

"It does tell me one thing, however." Johanna had worked out at least one thing Lee had told Rick had to be the truth. "These porters that are due any time now actually do exist. If they don't know how to leave or even just where they are they needed these porters to handle everything. Find a way to contact the people that had the fuel and how to convince them to do it," Johanna mentioned.

"Good point. I'm betting money somehow. Yet these people don't use money. At least I haven't seen any." Jim tried to think of something else. "All of this marble came from somewhere that we haven't seen yet. What if they found something else that's better than paper money?" Jim suggested.

Johanna was willing to bite. "Gold, maybe. Comes down the mountain with the water, falls over the falls and they just scoop it up."

Jim considered that then shook his head. "Gold weighs a lot. If you wanted to pay someone millions in pure gold how would you do that? If we are where we think we are, keeping in mind what it took for us to get from the plane to here, how do you get tons of gold out of here?"

Johanna made a low sound in her throat since he had a point. "Okay, so what are you thinking?"

Jim shared his idea. "Gems, diamonds. What if we're sitting in the bottom of an old volcano that's still a little active. Active enough to make this place what it is today. That pressure is more than enough to press coal or something into diamonds or other precious gems. That and they weigh a whole lot less. Just a few cases that could hold twelve cans of beer or soda could hold a lot and weigh far less."

"Sounds like we have more questions to ask and something else to find." Johanna was buying it. At least until they found or thought up something better.

Johanna asked him another question. "Are you surprised that we're not as angry as Rick is?"

"Not really, I suppose. I mean they targeted him; we're just collateral damage. They wanted him and anyone else was either going to stay or be taken away by these porters, even if they didn't want to. I do know one thing, though. We aren't talking to Lee until we can ask these people some questions, find the diamond mine, and talk to each of us first." He wanted them to talk to each other first before confronting Lee.

"I don't understand Gina and Paula. Both of them are so entrenched about what they think of this place. They're alive because of these people. Their medial care is why they are alive." Johanna was glad that neither of them were being included in this expedition to find answers.

Jim had an answer for that. "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink."

They both soon found their first group to question and hoped they understood English since it was the only language they knew. They weren't Rick and could understand a dozen or more languages which in of itself was amazing for someone his age.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

The door didn't have a lock but it did have something to shove a chair under so that no one could open the door unless they broke the door down and made a lot of noise doing it.

They'd thought about being out on the patio but they saw clouds forming and were guessing that a little rain was headed their way again, so they were inside. And anyone who tried spying on them was going to get wet.

Rick got them started. "Okay, what did you learn?"

"Well first, most of the people we found don't speak English so either Lee's lying or he exaggerated the number of people who speak English." Johanna began with that.

"Yeah, but we did learn two things. One is that all of the buildings are nice. Not nice like this building, but really nice so they aren't wanting. I don't believe that they have a hierarchy. And way out there something's under construction. They're using a lot of this white marble so they're still mining it, not that we found the mine," Jim said.

"It requires people, a lot of people. They don't use hydraulics so it's all rope, pulleys, block and tackle, and timbers from the woods. We're talking big blocks. Stonehenge blocks." Johanna was impressed.

"It was almost like watching an Egyptian pyramid being built. We don't know what it is but it's big," Jim added.

"As for the age question, keep in mind that at least half the people we talked to didn't understand English or didn't want to speak English. However, everyone that answered us did tell us their age. If they're telling us the truth, these people are indeed old. Not Lee's kind of old but old," Johanna said since that part was a little exciting.

"What we didn't find was a lot of kids. I mean we did see a few but really not that many. Only a handful." Jim and Johanna had found that interesting.

"We have a theory about that. Suppose it's true about their age and they can live a long time. Not that that means we will if we stay here and they let us. But what if living a longer life comes with a price and that price is your ability to have children," Johanna suggested.

Jim added his bit before either Kate or Rick could say anything. "If Chen truly is 76 years old, how many 76-year-old women do you know of that can have children?"

"What did you learn?" Jim and Johanna were out of information save for little things that they didn't think mattered at the moment. Like how they irrigated the land and what animals they saw and how many.

"We got the same thing on the age question that you and Dad got. Everyone here is old. Thanks to Rick knowing the language we talked to a lot more people. They're all old here." Kate couldn't believe it.

"Hearing you mention it, it does come to mind that we didn't see that many kids and literally no babies anywhere. You may be right that they might be waiting too long to have children so most everyone here can't any longer. Though I'm starting to wonder if it's more an infertility issue. They can't have children. …Or both," Rick mused.

Jim thought he was catching on. "They need us to stay."

"Perhaps. …We did find one other thing," Rick mentioned and Kate beat him to it.

"We think we found a mine," Kate said excitedly. "We didn't go in but if you're right about how they could afford to get us here, it might be a diamond mine. We couldn't tell how big it is, but it didn't look to be active. No one was coming or going."

"So, Lee's right about the age issue. We think we've worked out how they could afford to get us here, but I have one more question." Rick proceeded to tell them about the cockpit. "The plane we were using was state-of-the-art. I've seen it. It is all LCD screens and not an old fashioned gauge in sight."

Jim thought he saw the issue. "Then how did an 80-year-old man know how to fly it if he's lived his entire life here?"

"We talked about a theory about that on the way back," Kate said and let Rick explain.

"We're wondering if he really was 80 years old." Rick held up a hand to stop them since both of them opened their mouths. "Imagine he was 40 years old when he came here and he left here as a 40-year-old man. But what if why they can all live this long is because of something here. They leave here and they lose it and start to age."

Jim and Johanna tried to think that through. "Okay, but those numbers don't add up. Assume Lee's 500 but looks 80. For him to be 40 then age to 80 because he's not here doesn't add up. He would need to be a kid when he left here and then aged to 80 because he wasn't here." To Johanna that just didn't work.

They were all quiet as they considered it. "What if he was a kid when he left here? With a bag full of diamonds used to pay for everything else. But this bag was just for him. He used it to learn how to fly as he got older and older after leaving here. Learn how to fly a modern plane," Kate proposed.

Rick hummed and raised his eyebrows. "He sacrifices his life to bring us here. To bring me here." Rick couldn't get past the fact that everyone was here because they kidnapped him.

Kate put an arm around him. "Don't…please. I'm not angry I'm here. I don't think Mom and Dad are angry either. Gina and Paula maybe but not us."

"Katie's right. We're not angry or upset. Learning what we have this is still an amazing place to live. Even if we don't gain their life span," Johanna told him then smiled at him.

"We've learned by asking questions that there are no police because they're not needed. They don't steal anything because they don't have to. They don't starve because they grow or fish or raise just what they need and not more. No one knows of anyone that has been killed for any reason," Jim asserted.

"Plus somehow from the limited number we saw, the ratio of men to women appears to be even. There's someone for everyone. We didn't run across any adults that lived alone. Kids yes, but not adults. Explain that to me," Johanna challenged Rick or Kate.

Rick sighed since he couldn't. "So what do I tell Gina and Paula?" They'd been excluded from all of this because of their attitude about it all.

Kate wanted to tell him that he could tell them to go fuck themselves, but she kept her mouth shut.

"Nothing," Johanna declared. "They want to leave, help them pack their bags and let the porters take them wherever if or when they ever show up. There must be porters. How else would they have managed all this?" Johanna remarked since she and Kate had been talking about Rick.

Johanna knew her daughter was falling for him and that they were likely being intimate. Besides she liked Rick. He was so much better than any of Katie's old boyfriends, including the one she had dumped in college.

Kate reached out and rubbed his upper arm. "You can stay with us. No matter how we got here we want to stay. We have some answers. You can use what we've learned and question Lee for more answers. You mentioned that he wanted to talk to us anyway before he would let us stay." What she wanted to tell him was that if he stayed it was more likely that he would let them stay. But she didn't want to put any extra pressure on him.

"You said he wants to teach you what he knows. So let him teach you until the porters show up and make up your mind then. Maybe you'll like it better than being a diplomat," Johanna suggested, trying to help her daughter.

"Yeah, maybe. …I do wonder what happened to Will, though. He flew us in but didn't fly us out. That and how did their guy know where we were going to be? Those trips aren't officially advertised anywhere." One more question to ask Lee. They weren't top secret but not just anyone knew about them.


	13. Chapter 13

**Bliss**

_Chapter 13_

_It is now one month later_

Rick was sitting alone outside at the pool after Lee had left him. Rick had actually done as Kate, Jim, and Johanna had asked or suggested he do. He was letting Lee teach him what would be expected of him when he took over and he was actually learning a lot.

He'd learned the name of the man who had volunteered to come get him even knowing that his ability to get back before he died of old age was none. Zhen Yu had seen it as vitally important. Because of that Rick had dived into what Lee was teaching him with a little more determination. Zhen Yu had sacrificed himself not just for Rick but for this place and its future.

He had learned how they had afforded all of it and that since they had Rick now they didn't need to mine any longer so the mine was essentially abandoned for now.

In a month's time he had met each and every person that lived here and was introduced to all of them. All of them had welcomed him with open arms and a number of women had hugged him for staying. They thought he was their future.

A few had even asked when he and Kate were going to be mated. They meant married but he got it. He'd simply delayed making a commitment since neither he nor Kate had talked about it.

Rick had also learned that the new building was being built as a fish farm. Their diet was mostly fish and other seafood and Lee had decided years ago that they needed to protect themselves from a future catastrophe.

He'd even been shown another building that was slowly being built deep inside one of the mountains in a really cold zone. It was going to be turned into a freezer to store food.

Rick had even offered his own idea for the people. He thought it would be a big hit. The major stumbling block was that all the modern ones that he himself had visited had used a great deal of plastic to build it with and a lot of it required pumps using electricity that they didn't have so his idea of a water park was presently on hold until he could solve those problems.

"Richard!" Gina had found him and was coming down the stairs to stand in front of him.

"Yes?" Rick looked up and put on his diplomat smile for her.

"When are we getting out of here? We want to go home." She was adding Paula into this since they had been talking about wanting out of here.

"Just as soon as the porters from a far away town decide to make the trip, and before you ask I have no idea when that will be. No one here knows exactly when that will be." At least that was what he'd been told and since they had no communications with the outside world he believed them.

Gina groaned loudly. "There's nothing to do here. No TV, no movies, no where to go. There isn't even any alcohol to kill the pain with." They'd both had it with this place. "It isn't even safe here. There are animals all over the place. Those things with the huge antlers." She was sure she had been about to be gouged and run down one day.

"Reindeer, Gina, they're reindeer. You know like Santa Claus and Christmas?" Rick informed her.

"I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE! I'm not stupid." Just because she was a blonde didn't make her stupid. "What are you doing with that woman?" Gina wanted to say _bitch_ since that was what she was, but pissing off Rick wasn't going to get her anywhere.

"If you mean Kate what we do wasn't then and isn't now any of your business. Try and find something to keep yourself entertained and wait for the porters. The second they get here you two will be the first to know. Now if you'll excuse me I have a date." Rick got up to leave.

"With… her." Gina caught herself but it wasn't easy.

"Like I said, not your concern." Rick left her and never saw or felt the daggers she sent his way.

He found Kate in their room. "Give me a minute to change and I'll be right with you." Rick found his swimsuit, snagged a towel, and put on his tennis shoes since he didn't have flip flops like Kate did.

"Absolutely!" She was looking forward to this after she'd suggested it to him earlier. He had another session with Lee but had time after that. Kate was in her one and only complete bikini thanks to Rick damaging the top to her other one earlier that she hadn't fixed or had fixed yet. With towel in hand and wearing her flip flops, she was ready.

"Let's go then." Rick crooked his arm for her to take and Kate hooked her hand around his arm and latched onto him.

Where they wanted to go was a bit of a distance. It was a place that Chen, who was fast becoming a good friend, had told her about. Yes there was another of those heated pools in the areas but that wasn't why they were here.

"This looks like the spot." They were far away from any building and they had been walking in snow for a little while now.

Kate took off her flip flops and dropped her towel for later on top of them. Then she took off her swimsuit and was soon standing there naked.

Since Rick had finished first he stood there and watched Kate strip in front of him. "Mind out of the gutter, babe. Fun first, sex in the pool later."

"You're sure you don't mean fun first followed by still more fun?" Rick grinned at her.

"It's a good thing I like you as much as I do or I would slap that look right off your face. Now shift and let's have some fun." It was nice and cold with snow, some rocks, and even a mountain close by. There was probably a little ice and they could both see their breath.

Kate hadn't cared for the pain of shifting but since she had done it more now since being here than she had her entire life she was adapting. Still she grunted from the pain as she shifted into her Snow Leopard and finished just in time to see Rick finish. She was still amazed at just how big he was compared to her.

They couldn't talk like this but they'd done this a couple of times so they didn't need to. Kate took off bounding all over the place with Rick doing his best to keep up and crashing into anything that got in his way.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate was tired and very winded but also extremely happy as she shifted back into her human shape with Rick right next to her. "Last one to the pool has to make the bed," Kate challenged him and before she could take a step she shrieked loudly as Rick picked her up in his arms and carried her to the pool.

She giggled and kissed his cheek the entire way. She clutched him tightly as he slowly worked his way into the pool, feeling its heat all the way. Not until he was settled did he let go of Kate who didn't move except to get in front of him, wrap her arms around his neck, and kiss him.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick was still hard and deep inside her still even after he had climaxed twice inside her. Kate was presently resting against him and calming down after her third orgasm. She decided to go back to kissing him as she felt tears threaten to start.

Rick felt and heard something wrong so he broke from the kiss and saw her tears. "What's wrong?" He didn't think he had hurt her either as a bear or while making love to her.

"Nothing." Kate wiped her tears. She knew it, knew for a fact. "I love you!" She got the words out and buried her face into his neck.

Rick felt his heart skip a beat. Kate had just told him what he already felt but hadn't had the nerve to tell her.

Kate took her face out of his neck and just brushed her lips across his before pulling back an inch and looked him in the eye. "Rick… Please stay. I don't want to go back and I want you to stay…with me."

Rick couldn't resist. "I do." Kate laughed hard then grabbed his head and kissed him as her tears still fell. She'd never felt like this before. No man or location had ever done anything like this to her. She loved him and she could admit it.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick and Kate were back inside the main building and Kate saw her parents downstairs, huddled in a corner talking. "Mom, Dad." Kate had a tight hold on Rick as they approached.

"Hi, sweetheart. Your father and I have news. Your father has started his fishing lessons on how they do it here and I got my first chance at doing some farming. It was all small scale but we've started."

"That's great but I have news, too," Kate shared with them. "I asked Rick to stay and he said yes!" Kate was still so happy.

"Finally!" Jim said and chuckled at the looks he was getting.

"It's about time you came to your senses." Johanna was happy for both of them.

"It gets better. …Tell them what you asked next." Rick wasn't going to let her out of this. "She asked me to marry her." Rick was grinning wide.

"I did no such thing!" Kate told them all.

Rick reiterated what he heard again. "I heard you clearly. You asked me to marry you."

"I did not ask you to marry me. I asked you to stay and you said yes." Kate had done no such thing. What Rick heard was all in his imagination.

He reminded her of what she'd said. "You asked me to stay WITH YOU! That sounded a lot like _marry me_ to me."

"And you said?" Johanna asked since this sounded like a lot of fun.

"It doesn't matter what he said. I did _not_ ask him to marry me. I'm not responsible for his imagination," Kate argued since this was getting out of hand very fast.

"And you said what when Katie asked you?" Johanna was having fun.

"I do," Rick replied.

"Augh. For the last time I did not ask you to marry me." Kate had had enough of this.

"Sure sounds like you did to me, Katie." Johanna was still having way too much fun to give her daughter a break.

"So you don't want to marry me?" Rick put on his sad pouting face, showing that he was hurt.

"Who's getting married?" Paula had found them and wanted to ask a question.

"Rick and Katie," Johanna proudly claimed.

"WHAT!" This was definitely not what Paula needed to hear.

"Did she get down on one knee and ask you and where's the ring?" Johanna was more than willing to pile it on.

"Actually she was–"

Kate slapped her hand over his mouth. "Don't you dare!" She'd been sitting on him with him deep inside her at the time after having an orgasm.

Paula threw her hands in the air. "I don't believe this!" She had spent weeks, if not months, trying to get Rick to see her and here this _bitch_ had asked him to marry her. "I want out of this hell hole!" Paula stomped away and back up the stairs she had just come down. Worse this hell hole didn't have any alcohol to drown the pain in and make it go away.

"Well, she took that well." Johanna still didn't understand those two.

"Let's go, babe." Kate was done arguing that she hadn't asked him to marry her.

"Let me know when you're ready to start planning and I'll help. I'm sure we can find someone that can sew a dress for you. Flowers should be easy and you two need to start searching for rings." Johanna couldn't stop.

"MOM!" Kate dragged Rick up the stairs and into their room to get away from these two before they had her married where she stood.

Jim finally said something mostly because he was letting his wife have all the fun. "Our little girl is getting married."

"She finally found someone worth marrying. I thought sure she'd lost her mind with some of those guys." Johanna had really started to worry.

"You're telling me. You remember that one guy?" Jim asked her.

"You mean the one with the…" Johanna waved her hand over her arm.

"That's the one. I'm not sure that guy even knew what a shower was used for and those clothes!" Jim rolled his eyes like his wife and Katie had taught him.

"And Katie's black lipstick, black nail polish, black eye shadow and black–" Jim interrupted her.

"Stop, stop! I thought I'd gotten that guy out of my memory. Now I'm sure he's forever burned into my brain. I need a drink. Let's go; we're opening one of your bottles of wine to celebrate this moment." Jim got up and offered his hand to help her up.

Johanna took it. "So you're happy with this? Katie marrying Rick?"

"Walk my daughter down the aisle and hand her off to a man who deserves her? Absolutely! You realize we're going to have to do some of the planning for her," Jim cautioned.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Johanna was really looking forward to helping her daughter plan her wedding. The dream of every mother.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate was sure her mother was already starting to plan her wedding for her before she even made it to their room. "How did I get into this mess?" Kate hadn't expected an answer but she got one anyway.

"You proposed." Rick headed for the bathroom to hide his smile.

"I DID _NOT_ PROPOSE! …I just didn't want to lose you." Kate added the latter softly.

Rick had only just started to strip when suddenly there was a new sound. It sounded like a gong being hit over and over again.

Both of them chased down where the noise was coming from. They were out on the patio and looking out on the place they now called home. "THERE!" Rick pointed and they watched as people dressed in very heavy clothing came into view and all of them were carrying very, very large bundles that made them look like giants.

"Porters! Come on!" Rick starts running. If Lee wanted him to be the next leader he needed to meet these people. To find out what they'd brought, why they came, how they got paid, how long they were staying, and where they were staying.

It was still a long walk for them since they had to travel the same trail along the side of the mountain that they'd had to travel when they'd gotten here. As a result Rick, Kate, Lee and others had simply stopped closer to the main building and waited.

They all watched as they got closer. Rick saw that what they were carrying looked to be individually wrapped into long cylinders that were stacked one on top of another until that stack made them twice as tall as he was.

Others behind him had the same before it changed into huge columns that were also wrapped and just as tall. Then behind those two Rick saw a couple that were carrying large square packages that were stacked on their backs. Then one was carrying what Rick took to be a simple backpack. The ones in front all stopped and made way for him to keep walking. All of them were still wearing heavy layers of clothing for the cold that was outside of this place.

When he got close enough he threw his hood back and Rick saw a person that looked partially Chinese but he was physically larger than anyone here. He and the others now looked like they were well equipped for long cold travels.

He was easily an equal to himself. Rick watched as Lee approached him and spoke too softly for Rick to hear. The other guy answered him then Lee motioned for Rick to join him.

"This is Teeloo. He is the leader of this group," Lee told him in English.

Rick greeted him in traditional Chinese which most everyone spoke around here. "Hěn gāoxìng jiàn dào nǐ."*

"Nǐ shì zhèlǐ de xīn lǐngdǎo zhě?"* Teeloo wanted to be sure that Lee had told him the truth.

"Yǒu yītiān shì de. Dànshì xiànzài lǐ réngrán shì zhèlǐ de lǐngdǎo zhě."** Rick wasn't sure he was the new leader since Lee hadn't actually stepped down yet.

Teeloo ignored Rick after that and spoke directly to Lee. Rick listened to what both said then watched as Teeloo led the others toward the main building.

There were a number of them and while most had a single bundle a few were carrying items like a stretcher that had a body on it. They followed everyone else.

Then along came a larger object that was being carried by four of them, two in front and two in the back. Each held a large stick and between them was what resembled an outhouse to Rick.

Then Kate tapped him on the arm. "That's a carrier for a person. I've seen pictures of them. Only royalty or the really rich ever used them. I always thought they were too lazy to walk for themselves. They had slaves to carry them everywhere."

Kate was thinking a person might be in this thing and that person might be really special. Or too old to walk the long trip for themselves.

Rick heard Lee tell them to stop; they did and set what they were carrying down so it was sitting on the ground.

Rick and Kate watched as Lee walked over to what looked like a door. He opened it and held out his hand to someone inside. Whoever was inside took his hand and stepped out. He or she was totally wrapped up in very heavy winter clothing that was a match for what the porters were wearing.

Rick and Kate were now beginning to think that this person really was special. They watched as the person slowly pulled back the hood and they saw the person was wearing goggles. Given what they could see, it looked like this person was older. There were wrinkles that were prominent especially on the now partially exposed neck.

"Richard?" The voice was clearly female and totally shocked. It wasn't until she lifted up the goggles that the rest of her face was revealed.

"**MOTHER?**"

Translations

**Rick**

**Teeloo**  
*


	14. Chapter 14

**Bliss**

Chapter 14

"Mother?" Kate looked between the two of them. She had to admit the woman looked old enough to be his mother. She clearly had red hair, though, which was a shock.

"Mother! What are you doing here?" She shouldn't be anywhere near here. He was sure he was never going to see her ever again. He had agreed to stay here with Kate.

Martha ignored the question and stepped closer. She reached out with her heavily gloved hands until she saw them then struggled to get at least one of them off. "Richard." Now with a free hand she could cup his face.

"How? …How did you get here?" Rick couldn't move but he was starting to warm up to seeing her when he had thought he never would again.

"A man came and said he was going to take me to you because your plane had crashed. Next thing I know I'm being forced onto a plane and leaving New York. I was left all alone for hours. There was food, water, and even wine. Then we landed but he wouldn't let me get out. The next thing I knew we were flying again. Where are we?" Martha looked around and easily spotted the main building. "OH MY!" She thought it was beautiful. Then she looked around and saw the valley and everything that was out there along with the mountains that surrounded them.

"This is your mother?" Kate knew she was standing there with her mouth hanging open but she couldn't help it. She was the last person she ever expected to see.

"Mother." Rick got her attention back on him.

"I was taken to these people. Who don't speak any English." Martha rolled her eyes. "They fed me and I'm pretty sure got me drunk. The next thing I know I'm all bundled up, put in that box, and they wouldn't let me out. Though later from what I saw I didn't want out." All she saw was snow everywhere and even with all the clothing she was cold.

"They kidnapped you!?" Rick pinned his eyes on Lee since this had to be all his fault. He was apparently good at kidnapping people even from this distance.

"They were nice. A little mysterious. Reminds me of a play I once auditioned for, but didn't get. …Where are we?" Richard hadn't answered her one question.

"Tibet, Mother. At least as best we can work out," Rick told her.

"Tibet? What are we doing in Tibet? What are _you_ doing in Tibet? I thought you were somewhere in Africa." Martha never could get the names of that area straight.

"We were!" Rick glared at Lee again.

"We should get everyone inside. I am sure she is tired after her long trip." Lee knew Rick would be upset with what he had done, but in his eyes it was necessary. If Rick had decided he did not want to stay he and his mother could simply leave with a bag full of diamonds in compensation and live their lives.

Jim and Johanna had noticed a lot of new people and finally saw their daughter so they headed for her, bypassing all the people that were carrying heavy bundles and bundled up for the cold and now carrying snow shoes instead of wearing them.

"Who are all these people?" Jim and Johanna came up short when they saw Rick with someone older than most of them around here with really red hair. They both walked past them and looked all wrapped up in each other.

"That was Rick's mother," Kate said.

"His mother? …Here!? She traveled all the way to get here?" Johanna was really shocked.

"She was kidnapped and brought here from what little we know. My money's on Lee." Kate turned to look for him but didn't see him.

"Kidnapped?" Johanna turned her head and watched them go up the stairs.

"Just like us?" Jim asked and turned to watch as well. "So who are these guys?" They were all dropping their loads and starting to take off all their winter clothing.

"Porters that Lee told us would be coming. Looks like they're here." Kate looked at them all and wondered just where they were going to be staying as well as what they brought with them.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick helped his mother take off all that winter clothing and saw she was dressed in one of her notoriously loud clothing ensembles that he had gotten used to her wearing. "You're sure you're okay?" Tibet was a really long way away from New York.

"Tired, confused, but I'm fine. Maybe a little hungry. Some of what I was offered to eat was… I think one of them was a small roasted lizard on a stick. I declined." Martha shuddered. She might have been hungry but she wasn't that hungry.

"Is this your room?" She looked it over and realized that she liked it. Maybe a little cold with all the marble and yet the temperature felt nice now that she was warming up after taking off all that clothing. "Is there a bathroom?" Martha needed to go.

"Through there." Rick pointed and began to pick up all the winter clothing she'd been wearing and looked for a place to put it.

"Richard?" Martha called.

"Yes, Mother?" Rick turned and saw her standing in the doorway with one of Kate's bras dangling from her fingers.

Martha raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you want to tell me, Richard?"

"That's… That's…" Rick wasn't sure just how to explain this to his mother.

"That's mine," Kate said from the entrance to their bedroom with her parents right behind her.

Rick made the introductions. "Mother, this is Kate. Kate, this is my mother, Martha."

"Hi." Kate waved unsure just what to do since his mother was standing there holding one of her bras that she had left to dry in the bathroom.

Johanna went around Kate and into the room. "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Johanna and I'm Katie's mother. This is my husband, Jim." Johanna pointed out her husband who was still behind Kate.

"Richard?" This was all nice but just who were these people?

"You're just in time to help me," Johanna told her.

"Mother!" Kate just knew what she was going to say.

"Katie asked Rick to marry her and he said yes, so you can help me plan their wedding. This is going to be so much fun." Johanna was sure she could use the help. Rick's mother was going to be far more helpful than her husband.

"MOTHER! For the last time I did not ask Rick to marry me." Kate groaned, irritated that they were still on this topic.

"I'm pretty sure you did, honey." Johanna smiled at Martha. "You must be hungry. Let's find you something to eat while Rick finds you a room to stay in. This is going to be so much fun." Johanna took Martha's arm in hers, escorted her out of the room, and down to the cafeteria to find something for her to eat.

Jim retreated because he didn't want to be a part of any of this and his wife was clearly in charge as usual.

"Your mother," Kate stated with a sigh.

"Yep, that's Mother. Last I knew she was in New York City. I'm not sure if I should kill Lee or thank him." Rick had no doubt that Lee was behind this. Rick sat down on the bed and Kate moved to sit next to him.

"He does seem to be good at kidnapping people," Kate admitted. "Relax, babe. My family's here and now yours is, too." She was happy for him.

"Just in time for the wedding," Rick smiled and Kate groaned.

Kate finally got a chance to explain. "I meant that I didn't want you to leave so I wouldn't lose you. I love you and I wanted you to stay since I was. It's my mother who's decided that I asked you to marry me. Besides it's your job to ask me not the other way around."

"It's the 21st century and except for mostly Muslim countries, women have more than enough power to ask a man to marry her," Rick countered.

"That may be but I'm an old fashioned woman so my guy is going to have to ask me," Kate said. Then she watched as Rick got off the bed and was now down on one knee in front of her.

"Babe, what are you doing?" Her heart instantly went into something just short of cardiac arrest.

Rick finally took her hand in his and looked up at her. "Katherine whatever-your-middle-name-is Beckett. Would you do me the honor of marrying me? I'll find you a ring to wear later."

MY GOD! HE ASKED _ME__! _It wasn't just her mother having fun with her any longer.

"You…you." She loved him more than she had ever loved anyone in her life. It was a real marriage, it was a really big deal. A real marriage, not that stupid thing she and her now ex-boyfriend had done on a lark in Vegas that didn't officially count.

"We can stay engaged for a year or longer if that will make you happy," Rick offered as Kate began shedding tears which caused him to question whether he had done the right thing.

That was enough for Kate so she started nodding her head. She'd asked him to stay with her and if they didn't actually have to get married until a year from now, that made her feel much better about marrying him.

"Yes." Kate used her free hand to wipe away the tears. "I get a ring?"

"Just as soon as I can find one or find out how to have one made," Rick quickly agreed before she changed her mind.

Kate got off the bed and down on her knees to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

"So tell us everything," Johanna asked Martha after she'd made sure she had something to eat and drink and watched as Jim joined them.

Martha did a taste test since everything she'd eaten so far had proven to be suspect, especially that barbecued lizard on a stick. Satisfied, she took a larger bite and started talking.

"I was in my apartment when someone knocked at the door. The next thing I knew I woke up on this big gorgeous plane. You know the ones that you see in magazines that only the truly super rich own? Well this was that plane. A big commercial plane that was all open, not filled with tiny uncomfortable seats.

"There was food, water, wine and even the harder stuff and not in those tiny little bottles. This was in large crystal decanters. When I knocked on the door to the cockpit, the phone right next to me rang so I answered it. He told me I was being taken to my son and that I should make myself comfortable because it was going to be a long flight. He was right, too. We landed to get more fuel then we took off again.

"I knocked and asked him if he wanted something to eat since I didn't want him crashing from starvation but he insisted that he was fine. Then we landed again and this time he escorted me off the plane. He was really nice but didn't answer any of my questions.

"Next I found myself on this little plane with just one engine and it looked weird. It had these big things where the tires should be but there were tires poking out the bottom of them." Martha stopped to take another bite.

Jim thought he understood what she was talking about. "Sounds like a float plane that can land on a lake."

"Which we did actually and I didn't see how he managed to land. All I saw right in front of me was his instrument panel. The windshield was up here." Martha put her fork down and demonstrated where the windshield was and then picked her fork back up again. "But we did and lived through it." Martha went back to eating and Jim and Johanna just sat there and listened.

"He was nice enough but not as nice as the first man. He kept apologizing to me for doing this. The next fellow was not nice. Not mean, he didn't hit me, but he clearly didn't like me or what he was doing, I'm guessing. It was this rickety, broken down, I don't know what it was. It had four tires, no A/C, and either no shocks or too many. I felt every bump in the road and we drove for what felt like hours. Then we arrived in this old town filled with those people that brought me here.

"They gave me a bed to sleep in then put me in that box and carried me all the way. They only stopped to let me out to find a spot to squat then put on all that winter clothing and goggles. Even with all that I could feel the cold. I've never done you-know-what in the snow and I don't recommend it" Martha shook her head and took another bite since it was pretty good especially based on what she'd been eating of late.

"Then we were here and Richard was here." Martha had eaten enough and it was time for answers. "What is Richard doing here?"

That got Johanna and Jim to explain how they ended up here which was a nice long conversation.

"Have they explained why?" They kidnapped her son, they kidnapped her, and kidnapped these people by luck.

Johanna explained it as best she could. "They want Rick to be their new leader here. Lee, that's the man that brought us all here, wants someone to replace him before he dies of old age."

"Which is another story all together." Jim rolled his eyes like his wife had taught him even if she hadn't meant to.

"Better hold onto your socks for this one," Johanna warned her. "Lee tells us that he's just short of 500 years old and that everyone here lives for a very long time. There's this girl who looks younger than Katie that told us she's 76 years old."

That had Martha staring at these two trying to judge if they were pulling her leg. "You're serious."

Johanna nodded. "We didn't believe it either but we went out and asked everyone we could find how old they were. So did Rick and Katie. Everyone told us the same thing. These people have lived a very long time. There's one rather strange thing. We didn't see any babies. Younger kids right about adolescence, yes, but no one younger and certainly no newborns."

"None?" Martha asked just to be sure and both of them shook their heads. She wanted to ask if there were any men here but she'd already seen a few so that wasn't the answer.

"It's a mystery that doesn't have an answer yet. We have a few theories but nothing concrete," Johanna said.

Jim told her their first theory. "We believe that they're telling the truth about their age. It's just that they wait too long to have children. We're thinking that their ability to have children doesn't allow them to easily have children based on their actual age. Though based on what we saw it's possible for them to have children, just that they don't have too many."

"How many live here?" Martha asked as she formed her own reason.

"Just under 2,000. We don't know if that has anything to do with it or not but it might," Johanna noted.

Martha decided to get onto the topic that she wanted to know the most about. "Your daughter proposed to my son?"

"Well, technically Katie asked him to stay here with her since we want to stay and not go back. Spend some time here and you might like it, too. It never gets too hot, never gets too cold. They don't use money because there's nothing to buy. No police, no violence, and no one dies. No pollution in the air, water, or ground," Johanna asserted.

"You should see some of the art around here. Amazing paintings, sculptures, and even music. They have these small concerts almost weekly. The lake's full of fish and they're almost done constructing a fishery to grow more fish. One side of the lake is where everyone lives and the other side is all trees. They cut one down and they plant one or two." Jim thought they had a good system.

"There is one scary part, though" Johanna cautioned.

"We're sitting in the middle of a collapsed volcano. It keeps everything warm and there are even a few pools around here that are warmed by the heat of the volcano," Jim explained.

"However, that volcano has created some of the best land to grow plants in I've ever seen. You can grow almost anything here and they do. Just don't hope for a porterhouse steak. I haven't seen a single cow yet," Joanna told her since she did like having a grilled steak once in a while.

"The diet here is mostly fish though they don't have too many varieties. They all taste great. You just ate some," Jim pointed out since he was learning a lot about fish and fishing here.

"So Katherine and my son aren't getting married?" Martha had heard everything else but her mind was still stuck on the word _married._

"We'll see. I know Katie loves him fiercely and we've seen that Rick loves her, as well. As for if or when they actually get married, we may have to wait and see," Johanna finally admitted.

They were all interrupted when Gina and Paula showed up. "We've learned there are porters. Where's Richard?" Gina demanded.

"Probably in their room," Johanna answered and they watched them run off.

"Gina and Paula are here, too?" Martha didn't know that.

"Those two have been one big pain since we got here. They call this place a hell hole." Jim shook his head.

"That and we think both of them have had designs on Rick since before we got here and they hate Katie because she's managed to do what neither of them could. Which isn't that hard to believe." Johanna didn't see how anyone would love either of them. But she might be wrong.

"Richard has grumbled about those two ever since they were assigned to him. …So how did you all get here?" Martha was sure there was a story there.

She found out she was right as she listened to these two explain how not just them, but Richard, Gina, and Paula got here.

"You crashed! Wasn't that dangerous? Not a very good way to kidnap people. What if all of you died?" Martha thought that was a terrible plan.

"Would Rick have come if they simply asked him?" Jim asked her.

Martha really didn't know. Her son was dedicated to his job and what it meant to him. So would he have given that up to come here and take over?

"There's one more thing," Jim added. "Rick said his boss was fired before we even left Africa. He thinks he, Gina, and Paula are next. They just haven't been told yet."

"Fired." Martha knew her son, knew that would devastate him, and that he loved his job. Maybe if he had known that and then been asked, he might have done it. Or he might not have.

"One more thing and don't freak out." Johanna knew this was a touchy subject. "We know you and Rick are shifters. Rick and probably you are Polar Bears."

Martha almost immediately wanted to run; she was scared to death. She had fought to keep her secret and had had to fight her son for years to keep it a secret.

"Relax, we're also shifters. And so is Katie, of course. We're Snow Leopards." Jim motioned that she should remain seated and not start running.

Then Johanna broke the really big news. "Everyone here, well save for the porters now, and Gina and Paula, are all shifters. We've seen mostly Reindeer and a few other animals as well."

Martha remained seated but was totally shocked. She had tried to stay hidden since she was a child just like her parents had drummed into her. Now suddenly people she had never met before knew she was a shifter. Not only that but if these two weren't lying she was surrounded by shifters.

"All of them?" Martha inquired softly since to her talking about being a shifter was a secret.

Johanna and Jim nodded. "We've seen the animals and asked about it. These people don't know to be scared. They revel being in their animal form. You can shift here and no one says anything about it."

"Did you see the carvings at the front door or the fire pit just inside the door?" Jim asked and she shook her head. "These people revere animals. We need to take you up front so you can see them."

"Do they have a theater? Plays?" That was Martha's life.

Both of them shook their heads. "We haven't seen any but we might not have seen everything. Maybe Rick knows since Lee's teaching him how to take over."

That gave Martha pause. Maybe she could be a teacher, start her own actor and actress school, put on her own plays, and star in them. If her son was staying then so was she. No matter how she had gotten here.


	15. Chapter 15

**Bliss**

_Chapter 15_

They had watched the porters set up tents just about every place they could though they did try to stay centrally located. Rick had found out that they were offered quarters inside the main building, however they chose to use the same tents that they used to get there. One of the tents his own mother had been forced to share to get there.

What he wanted to do for a minute was find out who she had shared a tent with and give him a new face. One that plastic surgery couldn't fix but since she had gotten there safe and sound he didn't.

Lee had him sit in on all of the conversations and since he spoke the language fluently he didn't miss a single word. They mostly ate the food they were given and as part of their payment they were given food to get home with.

It was a few days later and Rick was sitting with everyone else in their bedroom. This time it included Martha. He handed over a list of everything that the porters had brought with them, most of which had been requested by Lee the last time they were here that was just over 10 years ago.

"Interesting list." Kate had only made it half way and already she didn't really understand.

"So what are they being paid to bring all this here?" Jim queried as he kept reading.

"Diamonds, lots and lots of diamonds. That and a whole lot of tea. Apparently the tea that they want can only be grown here and it's worth a fortune," Rick replied.

"I wondered what they did with all that tea." Johanna had been learning how to farm here on a bigger scale than she was used to do back home. She'd found out that they grew an enormous amount of tea but she didn't really see that many drinking it here. That and most of them had somehow missed all the wooden barns they used to store the tea. Yes, they'd gone out to look for people and that meant look for housing and they had seen that. But just how had they missed all the barns had them baffled.

"Explains how they could afford to get us all here, though," Jim added.

"Diamonds. Cut or uncut or does it matter?" Kate asked and learned they were all uncut.

"How does this list and this knowledge help us?" Johanna questioned.

"The porters are here and Lee wants me to be in charge eventually. So I have a chance to ask for what we want them to bring next time in exchange for more diamonds and more tea. So…what do we want?" Rick handed out blank pieces of paper and something to write with to everyone.

"What's the limitation?" Kate asked since she could think of a lot of things, a whole lot of things.

"The porters need to be able to obtain it and then be able to transport it here. That's where Mother comes in. I'm hoping she saw most everything that they packed and carried with them. How difficult it was to carry it all and maybe if anyone chose not to come," Rick told them. That was when all eyes turned to Martha.

Martha smiled at them. "No pressure then."

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

It became more of an exercise in getting Martha to remember and then interpret what she saw followed by what everyone saw after they got here. Like how many carried the largest loads and trying to decide what was in those loads.

Rick had gathered up all the lists and everyone was gone save for Kate who was using the bathroom before rejoining him and moving a chair so she could sit next to him. "So what did we all want?" Kate knew what she had asked for and hoped it wasn't too much for them. She had tried to keep it simple.

"Mother's list appears to revolve around alcohol. Wine in particular and not just any wine, either, she wants it to be all French wine." Rick handed Kate his mother's list for her to read.

"Well France does make some of the best wine and Mom hasn't talked about them growing grapes here so I suppose it makes sense. I do know Mom is guarding the few bottles she has left with her life." Kate chuckled softly at that. "It would be nice to get a few bottles of say tequila." Kate grabbed something to write with and added that to Martha's list.

She put Martha's list down. "What else?" She had no idea just what everyone had asked for.

"My list." He gave her his list. What he wanted.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise at his list. "Solar panels, 100 miles of 12 gauge Romex cabling, 50 miles of 6 gauge Romex cabling, 30 SimpliPhi PHI 3.5 kWh 48v Ah LFP batteries." Kate stopped reading even if there was more. "How do you know so much about batteries?" He was getting really specific in what battery he wanted.

"When you're a diplomat in undeveloped countries trying to help solve problems you tend to learn a great deal about a lot of things. And one of the things people want a lot of is power. Naturally I can't build them a power plant but I can get them isolated power to serve small areas, like ours. What I'm asking for still won't put light in every house or even this entire building but it will power some of the other things I asked for." Rick motioned for her to keep reading.

"50 Apple MacBook Pro." She looked at him. "You want to give computers to everyone." Kate thought she was catching on.

"Technically what I want to create is a building that will be a computer hub for everyone. When one is free to be used they can use it. The solar panels and batteries will power the building. Maybe it can even double as a classroom for anyone that wants to learn something." That was Rick's grand idea.

"No wonder Lee picked you." Kate leaned across to kiss his cheek. She had selected items simply for herself while Rick was selecting things for them as a whole. She held out her hand. "Give me back my list." She had a lot of changes to make to it. She did keep reading Rick's list, though.

"Glomex weBBoat 4G Plus 3G/4G/Wi-Fi Coastal Internet Antenna. Internet I get but what's this _we boat_ stuff?" Rick obviously knew a lot more than she did.

"Say you're on a boat that can travel anywhere on the planet or even maybe in an RV and traveling all over the country–" Kate interrupted him since she got it now.

"You can get internet wherever you are. …Aren't you clever." It earned him another kiss to his cheek. She went back to reading only this time she did it silently since it looked like a huge list of software for the computers.

"Some of these are language teachers. You've even added Russian!" This time she grabbed his head and kissed him full on the lips for that one.

She put his list aside, scratched out most of hers, and tried to think about what they as a community needed or could use that wasn't too big for porters to carry.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

An hour later and her list was tiny compared to his since she couldn't think of much.

"So what did the others want?" Kate held out her hand and ended up with Martha's list. It had her giggling until she clapped a hand over her mouth so she could stop. "It looks like my mother and your mother have wine on the brain." Yes, her mother had more than wine but that was basically about it.

"Great minds think alike," Rick grinned.

"I wouldn't go that far," Kate teased at her mother's expense since she wasn't there to defend herself.

"What did Dad want?" She put down her mother's list and held out her hand and waited.

Kate started reading and interestingly he was thinking along the same lines as Rick. He was thinking community and not just for himself which made her feel even worse.

"Looks like Dad's trying to use the waterfall to do all kinds of things. He just isn't as particular in what he wants as you are with your power idea," Kate noted.

"Yeah, I'm going to need to go over his list and see if I can come up with individual items that will do what he's thinking. His pump without electricity idea I can deal with, that's easy. The others are going to take some time." Rick was going to have to rack his brain to remember what he knew about using waterfalls for anything.

"When do the porters leave?" Meaning how much time did they have to finish the list?

"Early tomorrow, very early. They should be packing up for the trip back right now," Rick said. Hearing that she got up to go onto the patio to see if she could see them packing up for the trip.

She was soon back. "Looks like you're right. Their tents are still up but they look busy. We need to finish and get this all condensed into one list and fast." Kate was thinking they didn't have much time.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate woke up, instinctively searched the bed, and found it empty. It didn't happen often and she hated it when it did. She didn't think of herself as being clingy or anything, it was just that she liked waking up with a naked Rick next to her.

"PORTERS!" She was instantly wide awake now and began moving toward the balcony so she could look out. But she came up short since she was naked. Not likely anyone would see her but she decided not to risk it.

The first thing she found was one of Rick's shirts and she was still buttoning it up a little when she reached the edge to look out. What she saw was a long line of porters walking to the opening. That got her running back inside so she could find something to wear and get down there before they were all gone.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Gina and Paula were all wrapped up in very heavy winter clothing just like the porters were, holding their snowshoes.

Gina took one last shot at getting him to come back and come back with her instead of staying here with _that woman._ "It's not too late, Richard. You can come back with us. You can't be a diplomat here."

He shook his head. "There's nothing to go back to. Roy was fired. I'm certain I'm next and America's changing. I'm not needed there but I am needed here."

Paula added her voice. "You don't know that for certain."

"Actually I'm certain of it and I have no doubt that when you get back you'll find you no longer have a job, either. And not simply because you were missing," Rick warned them and saw the defeated looks on their faces.

"Here." He handed over a small bag that didn't hold much but it should be enough.

Gina took it. "What's this?"

"Uncut diamonds just like the ones the porters were paid with. These are for you two. Think of it as compensation for being kidnapped and taken someplace you didn't want to be. You're not rich, but if you're careful it should last you a while," Rick explained.

"Thanks." Gina felt tears welling up. He was being kind to her even after all she'd done. It was sinking in fast that she was never going to see him again. Her dream of their being a them was dead. So she took it and then hugged him.

"Take this, too." Rick gave Paula a bundle. "It's all the money all of us came here with. It's not a lot but it might be enough to get you two tickets for home and buy something to eat along the way."

Paula wasn't nearly as affected as Gina was but she did know this was the end. "Thanks." She took it and searched for a place to put it.

"Be careful you two and don't fall behind these guys. They've been paid to take you back but that doesn't mean that if you don't keep up they won't leave you behind. Most of them, if not all of them, don't speak English. So keep up and do as you're told." It was his last warning he could give them.

"Thanks, Richard." Gina found her place in line and began walking.

"Be careful, Richard. This place is tiny and you're all alone out here." Paula was sure he was going to die here. She found a place in the line a little behind Gina and started walking.

Rick got out of the way and watched as porter after porter were each carrying something though not nearly as heavily loaded as they had been when they came.

He was still watching as the line started getting shorter when he saw Kate running his way until she was next to him and breathing heavily. "You didn't wake me." She had wanted to watch them leave and while she was watching a few of them leave it wasn't that many of them.

"I decided to let you sleep. You didn't really miss anything." It was just a bunch of porters walking toward the opening in the mountain.

"Where's Lee?" He was still in charge around her so he should be here somewhere.

"He's up at the entrance to see the last of them off. I'm down here to see Gina and Paula off." Rick replied.

"They still hate me don't they?" Kate was sure they did. After all, she had what they both wanted. She had Rick. "What did they have to say?"

He shrugged. "Not much. Gina tried one last time to get me to change my mind. Paula just wanted me to be careful."

Kate had expected more but was thankful that he hadn't listened. "Did you give them the money?" She, her parents, and Martha had handed over every dollar they had. They had no use for the stuff anymore.

"That and a bag of uncut diamonds. Compensation for being kidnapped," Rick said.

"That was nice of you." Kate kissed his cheek for that. "You think they'll make it?" Kate only knew what Martha had told them and she'd lost count of the number of times they'd stopped, got her out of her box and into a tent, then fed her.

"The porters have been paid to get them there, but if they don't keep up I don't know what will happen. I warned them to keep up or risk getting left behind," Rick commented.

"GOD!" Kate didn't care for either of them but the idea that they could get left behind and die in the freezing cold in the middle of nowhere wasn't something she would wish on anyone. "And our list?"

"Teeloo has it along with one other person just in case the list goes tumbling down a hillside or falls into a deep hole." Rick wasn't taking any chances.

"Any ideas when they'll be back?" Kate hadn't been a part of that talk.

"According to Lee they show up on average about every 10 years though usually a little longer of late. It was 12 years for this group. It might have something to do with how long it takes for them to gather what we asked for. Finding the volunteers willing to make the trip then get paid only when they get here and how much they get paid. And what if the pass is closed when they reach it."

"So maybe never." Kate wasn't sure she liked that thought. She liked their final list.

They both stood there until the very last porter went past them. "Now what?" Kate asked.

"Now we clean up the mess the porters left behind." He seriously doubted that they completely packed out what they packed in. There had to be a mess to clean up. "Then we figure out where everything they brought goes. What's left to be distributed, anyway." Some of it had already been distributed.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick turned out to be right. The porters had left a bit of a mess behind. The two of them volunteered to help clean it up and soon Jim and Johanna began helping them as well.

It was time for lunch and as much as Jim and Johanna wanted to go see some of what had been brought, like the new nets and new gardening tools, they were hungry and wanted to see what the cooks did with all the new spices that had also been brought. They now had bags and bags of spices that should last a long time. It also happened to be one of the things that had been added to their list that had just left here.

Rick was first of their group in line. He picked up a plate and the clean utensils then breathed in deeply. He moaned. "Mmm, curry!" It wasn't curry chicken since they didn't have any chickens but it still smelled like curry to him and that was enough.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

"You're thinking very loudly over there." Rick was sitting across from Kate who was sitting next to her mother with Jim next to him as they ate. The only person missing was his mother.

"The food here is really good but I miss Chinese food from New York," Kate remarked.

"Steaks," Jim sighed.

"Beef anything and ice cream. I'd kill for a DQ Blizzard. It's too late to make changes to our list, isn't it?" Johanna didn't know how they could do it but they hadn't even tried to think of something.

"Very," Rick told her. "However if it makes both of you happy I did add something to the list last minute. So we'll just have to wait and see." Everyone waited for him to tell them but he didn't.

"Do you intend to share it with the rest of the class?" Kate had waited long enough.

"It partially requires them to bring the electrical items I asked for, but I added chicken eggs, an incubator, and some heat lamps. Then when they grow up they can become free range chickens. Might not work and even if it does it might not add up to chicken every day, but we might get a few eggs each day for some of us," Rick grinned.

"You're genius! I love you." Kate took his head in her hands and turned it so she could kiss him in front of her parents.

"That's good because I love you, too." Rick smiled into her upturned lips.

"So when's the wedding?" Johanna wasn't going to let go of that.

Jim decided to jump on top of this. "Forget that, when are the grandchildren?"

Kate moaned and got up since she was done eating anyway. "Let's go, babe. Before I kill someone." Kate glared at her parents and went away with Rick on her arm.

"Was it something we said?" Johanna asked her husband as she smiled, knowing full well it was and didn't care in the least.

"Well since we've been abandoned I'm going to go try out these new nets. If we're allowed to use them yet." The old ones were still good even if they had been repaired a number of times.

"Guess that means I get to go help with the new seeds we got. See what new plants we didn't have before if the ground is ready for them." Johanna was hoping for some trees that they didn't already have. Maybe some nuts or fruit. That would be so nice.

So far Johanna knew neither of them regretted staying here instead of going back. Their lives were so different here than back home. Maybe a little harder physically, but they didn't miss the pollution or the violence that was in the news daily.

There were no mass killings at schools, or theaters, or even gang-related drive by shootings. It was certainly safer here and a little more rewarding.


	16. Chapter 16

**Bliss**

_Chapter 16_

_It is now one year later_

Kate had no idea where the material had come from. She knew this particular material hadn't come with the porters. They'd brought a number of bolts of cloth but this wasn't one of them.

Right now she was standing on a stool as a woman she had never met before now was making alterations after using her to get a pattern, then cutting it out and now it was draped over her body. It kind of, sort of, fit her but these alterations were going to help it a lot.

Then her mother checked to see how things were progressing. "How's it coming, Katie?" She had to ask Katie since the seamstress she had found with a little help from Lee, didn't speak a bit of English.

"Pretty good, I guess. She just keeps pulling and pushing and pinning things in place. I just stand here and wait until she's done." It was all rather boring until her mother went and said something else.

"My little girl is getting married." Johanna's heart was bursting with joy.

"Yeah, I'm having a little trouble believing it myself. I'm almost 21 years old and getting married. I thought sure that if it even happened it would be later in life. Like after I had graduated from college and found a job somewhere. Now my job is learning how to paint better." Kate, though, was smiling.

"I saw your last painting, it was lovely." Johanna had liked it.

"I'm glad you think so. Choi, my instructor, didn't think so. He wanted to know why I was holding myself back. I'm supposed to put my heart on my sleeve and paint using that." Choi really didn't understand why she wasn't putting her heart into her painting.

"Maybe getting married will help with that." It would reduce some of the stress and let her really paint.

They were both interrupted when the seamstress said something in Chinese and used her finger to get Kate to spin in place. Kate got the message even if she didn't understand a word she said and started to spin slowly since her stool was a little small and falling off it would be easy to do.

Then she said something else and showed that she wanted Kate to take it off. Kate moved to a screen where she could strip in private since she wasn't wearing much under this dress.

Kate handed it off and put her clothes back on. When she came out they saw her holding up two fingers and saying something.

"Is that two days or two hours?" Kate held up her own two fingers and watched her nod.

"Since your wedding is still next week I'm going to say days instead of hours," Johanna said

"Works for me." Kate held up her two fingers again and left with her mother.

"It looks lovely though different." Johanna liked it even if it wasn't a typical white wedding dress.

"Lee said something about a Chinese wedding dress. He promised I would love it. It certainly feels different," Kate was willing to admit.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

They were both spotted by Rick who came up to them. "How's your wedding dress coming?" If her seamstress needed more help he would talk to Lee.

"Vy ne dolzhny videt' moye plat'ye do svad'by,"* Kate told him. She smiled and kept walking.

"What did you tell him?" Johanna was still with her and didn't know a word of Russian, except for yes.

Kate smiled at her. "I can teach you Russian, Mom."

"There aren't any Russians around here. If anything I need to learn Chinese." English and Chinese were the two main languages here.

Kate offered to help. "I'll talk to Rick and maybe he can teach you or he can find someone to teach you."

"I'll let you know." Johanna was sure she was going to have to learn eventually but maybe she could put it off for as long as possible.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Kate was dressed in one of Rick's shirts with just one button buttoned and had her legs tucked beneath her while sitting on the bed, waiting for him to come home.

Finally a tired looking Rick walked into the room. "I never knew being a leader could be so difficult. I don't know how Lee does it." He had seen Kate but hadn't really seen her.

He came to the bed and sat down with his back to her. He was exhausted.

"My poor baby." Kate shuffled across the bed until she was behind him and started working on his shoulders with her hands. His shoulders felt like they were made of steel.

"He's had practice. You'll get it." She had faith.

"I might die of old age first," Rick chuckled. That caused Kate to pause working on his shoulders and then go back to work on them.

"Do you think we'll stop aging like they do? These people are really old." It was a question that had been on her mind but she kept forgetting to bring it up with him.

"I have no idea. I did talk with Lee about that once, but no one has come here and stayed in a really long time, if ever. He didn't know. It would be interesting to live that long, I guess." Rick wasn't sure if it was a good thing. Then a thought hit him. He pointed out a potential benefit. "It would allow me to love you for a very long time."

Kate stopped working on his shoulders and wrapped her arms around him instead. "That's sweet. Be married and love you for 500 years. Sounds like fun. Unless I turn into a wrinkled old lady."

Rick turned so he could see her. "You'll still be beautiful to me," he said which earned him a heartfelt, passionate kiss.

Kate twisted him back around so she could wrap her arms around him and rest her chin on his shoulder next to his head. She had something she wanted to talk about and it was a big one.

She began building up to her question. "I'm almost 22 and you're already 28 working on 29."

"Are you trying to make me feel old?" He didn't need her help.

"No. But I've been thinking. There are so few kids and we've been speculating that it's because they waited too long. So…can we start trying to make a baby before it's too late for us, too?" There she had said it.

She had always thought that if she was going to have a baby that she would be closer to 30 years old and have just the one. But if she did that she had two fears. One was that Rick would be even older than her. Not that he might not be able to get her pregnant, but what if one was all they could have because they waited? Another issue was what if they waited too long and too long became 100 years if they did live a long time like these people? They wouldn't look old but would be old or maybe too old.

That had Rick spinning so he could face her. "A baby?" He wanted to make sure he heard correctly even if her lips were next to his ear.

"Yeah, before we wait too long and can't have one at all." Even if she didn't know when that would be.

"You do realize that we've pretty much been doing that for a while." Condoms and birth control in general was almost nonexistent so when they had sex she might end up pregnant anyway.

"I know, but this time I _want_ to be pregnant. I want a baby." Kate stroked his face. "Maybe we can make one on our wedding night." To her that would be perfect.

Kate felt his hand move her shirt aside a bit to expose her breast and she smiled. "I suppose we could start practicing for that day," Rick murmured.

"Lots of practice," Kate smiled. Then she kissed him back when he kissed her as she began working on getting his shirt off.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Where they were living now didn't follow the American ceremony to get married and to prevent someone from being mad enough to reject Rick as their future leader Rick and Kate decided to do the best they could using the local ceremony with just a tweak here and there.

Since the parents already approved they didn't need a matchmaker to match them. So they skipped most of that part. Not all exactly but most of it.

They skipped the part about the matchmaker doing an 8 cyclic characters for year, month, day, and hour of birth of a man in which SUAN MING was used to predict the future of that couple-to-be.

They did use the matchmaker to deliver a betrothal letter to the family of the bride, though. Once the letter was accepted by the family the matchmaker was used to deliver the wedding gifts to the bride's family. As part of the culture it consisted of cakes, food, and religious items. As required Rick did all the cooking. "I hope they don't actually eat this stuff," he had whispered to his mother who was an even worse cook than he was.

Next it was up to the families to select a wedding date that would be an auspicious day to assure a good future for the couple. That day just so happened to be today.

Then there was the wedding ceremony itself.

**The w****edding procession:** _Before the meeting party's arrival, the bride would be helped by a respectable old woman to tie up her hair with colorful cotton threads. She would wear a red skirt because the Chinese believed red symboli__z__ed happiness. When the party arrived, the_ _bride must cry with her mother to symbolize her reluctance to leave home. She would then be led or carried by her elder brother__ (__in this case a substitute__)__ to the sedan. __They__ made do __with__the__ old box Martha __had__ arrived in. From here, the wedding procession from the bride's home to the groom's home consist__ed__ of a traditional band, the bride's sedan, the maids of honor's sedans (if there __we__re maids of honor), and bride's __dowry__ in forms other than money. The most common dowries included scissors like two butterflies never separating, rulers indicating acres of fields, and vases for peace and wealth._

**Welcoming the bride:** _The wedding procession of the bride's family stop__ped__ at the door of the groom's home. In the meeting party the groom would meet a series of difficulties intentionally set in his path. Only after coping with these could he pass to see his wife-to-be._

**Actual wedding ceremonies:** _On the arrival of the sedan at the wedding place, there would be music and firecrackers. The bride would be led along the red carpet in a festive atmosphere. The groom, also in a red gown, would kowtow three times to worship the heaven, parents__, __and spouse. Equivalent to exchanging vows in the west, the couple would pay respect to the __Jade Emperor__, the patron family deities (or patron Buddhas and bodhisattvas), paying respect to deceased ancestors, the bride and groom's parents and other elders, and paying respect to each other. Then the new couple would go to their bridal chamber and guests would be treated to a feast._

**Wedding banquets:** _In Chinese society, the wedding banquet is known as xǐ-jǐu (_喜酒_, lit. joyful wine), and is sometimes far more important than the actual wedding itself. There are ceremonies such as the bride presenting wines or tea to parents, spouse, and guests. In modern weddings, the bride generally picks red (following __Chinese tradition__) or white (more_ _Western__) for the wedding, but most will wear the red traditional garment for their formal wedding banquet. Traditionally, the groom is not responsible for the cost of the wedding invitation sweet treats (often pastries), the banquet invitations, and the wedding itself. Wedding banquets are elaborate and consist usually of 5-10 courses, with ingredients such as __shark fin__, __abalone__, __lobster__, __squab__, __sea cucumber__, __swift nests__ or __fish roe__ in soup or as decoration on top of a dish to symbolize fertility, and local delicacies. Traditionally, the father of the bride is responsible for the wedding banquet hosted on the bride's side and the alcohol consumed during both banquets. The wedding banquets are two separate banquets: the primary banquet is hosted once at the bride's side, the second banquet (smaller banquet) at the groom's side. While the wedding itself is often based on the couple's choices, the wedding banquets are a gesture of thanks and appreciation, to those that have raised the bride and groom (such as grandparents and uncles). It is also to ensure the relatives on each side meet the relatives on the other side. Thus out of respect for the elders, wedding banquets are usually done formally and traditionally, which the older generation is thought to be more comfortable with. On the night of the wedding day, there was a custom in some places for relatives or friends to banter the newlyweds. Though this seemed a little noisy, both of them dropped shyness and got familiar with each other. On the third day of the marriage, the new couple would go back to the bride's parents' home. They would be received with also a dinner party including relatives._

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick was already awake and was staring at his sleeping wife. It was their fourth day of marriage and everything was now officially over. They had skipped a few parts mostly because they had no choice. Save for the wine that Johanna had secreted away there was no alcohol anywhere that anyone in either family knew about. If there was moonshine being made somewhere whoever was making it wasn't sharing.

The food for everyone was another concession to what was available. Not that anyone complained and besides the food was always free as was everything else since money had no use there.

Rick saw Kate slowly blink her eyes open and he smiled. "Morning, Mrs. Rodgers."

Kate's smile started to light up her face. "Morning, Mr. Rodgers."

"What shall we do today?" Rick had a couple of ideas.

Kate kept her smile. "We could stay in bed all day and make love. Maybe make that baby."

"I thought we did that last night, but if you think we need more practice…" Rick leaned in and kissed her since he wasn't adverse to more baby making practice.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

They had wanted to make sure everyone knew where the new family was living even if it wasn't part of any tradition, so their wedding garments were hanging on a makeshift coat rack out on the back patio.

Kate still didn't know the names of their wedding garments but they were beautiful. Hers had a burgundy under dress, then a white one, and finally the red outer gown which embroidered in gold. Each layer wrapped over itself and had wide sleeves. There was a wide burgundy belt of sorts with a small gilded medallion in the front center. Hanging from the belt was an embroidered piece, depicting a dragon. She felt like a princess wearing it.

Rick's was similar to hers in that there were three layers: red first, then black, then red again. His differed in that the outer red was more a robe that angled away to show the black gown. The black was edged in gold and was worn with a wide black belt. It was edged in red, had a red stripe circling the middle and had a gilded medallion as well. He was every inch her prince.

They were both showered and dressed and on the patio holding onto each other. Rick took it all in. "Not such a bad place to live. It actually is very pretty."

"It's gorgeous." Kate saw white capped mountains on all sides. Fields laid out in front of them with mostly white marble houses dotting the area, though a few were real log homes like the early 1800s in America. A large lake in the distance with nothing but trees on one side. She could almost make out the waterfall far in the distance. Clouds were presently obscuring it from sight.

"You two make a beautiful couple." Johanna stepped out onto their patio which just so happened to adjoin with theirs. It had been different but that hadn't made it any less spectacular in her eyes.

"Hi, Mom." Kate didn't let go of Rick when she joined them. "I could really learn to like this place. It looks like a postcard. I love sitting out here and just looking at it."

"Well you live here so you get to do just that," Rick reminded her.

"Where's Dad? And Martha. Where is she?" Granted it was still early and they were barely out of bed themselves.

Johanna answered her part of Katie's question. "Your father's in the shower."

Rick knew exactly where his mother was. "Mother isn't a morning person. Give her a reason to stay up all night and she will. But ask her to get up early in the morning, any morning, and you're barking up the wrong tree. That is unless she's rehearsing for a play or needs to get to rehearsal for a show. Then she's wide awake no matter what she did last night."

"We don't have a theater, do we? And we don't have any shows that I've seen." Kate was worried just what Martha was going to be doing to keep herself occupied and happy here.

"You leave that to me," Rick said. "Speaking of which, I need to see Lee about a new construction project. We do a lot of arts here and theater and plays are just another form of art. Even if we don't have any actors or actresses I'm sure Mother will be more than willing to teach them. With a limited population we may only get one show a month, but it should be enough to keep her happy." Rick kissed Kate and headed off to find Lee so they could get started.

Johanna wrapped her arm around her daughter. "He really is amazing, Katie. You got lucky."

"Yeah, getting trapped in that airport did turn out to be a good thing after all. Just don't try and convince my back of that." Kate put a hand on her lower back.

Johanna chuckled. "Those seats were killers."

Jim arrived at just the wrong point. "Who's a killer?"

"We were talking about the airport we were stuck in, babe," Johanna explained.

"OH! That place. I've tried to forget about that place. Sandwiches that had meat from I don't know what in them. Chips that looked made on site and burnt half the time and bottles of water that cost far too much." Jim shook his head to dislodge that memory and make it go away.

"No hot water and no showers." Kate rolled her eyes.

"At least we had a roof over our heads and toilets. …With toilet paper." Johanna harped on that part.

"Don't get me started on toilet paper, Mom. This place doesn't have any. …Or tampons." It might look and feel like paradise but there were things they had to get used to.

"I never thought I'd say this, but thank god for menopause." Johanna didn't have to go through all that any longer. However, she could feel her daughter's pain. "You know if you got pregnant you wouldn't have to worry about that for nine whole months." Johanna got in her little jab.

"Mother!" She was not talking about how much sex she and Rick were having and had no intention of telling her that they actually were actively trying to have a baby. It was just going to have to come as a surprise to everyone. Including them.

Translations

**Kate**

*You should not see my dress before the wedding.


	17. Chapter 17

**Bliss**

_Chapter 17_

_Epilogue_

_It is now 13 years later_

Kate was out of the shower and standing in front of the mirror. It wasn't a full length mirror so it took some work to see everything, but she was liking what she saw. They had been here for a while and she admittedly had lost track of just how much time.

The stretch marks were mostly gone and she had to look hard to see the ones that remained. She had also worked hard at getting the weight off. However, what had her attention at the moment was her face, neck, and her breasts. She couldn't find any new lines in her face or her neck and while her breasts were still larger than they used to be, they didn't have a bit of sag in them. They were still perfectly conical in shape.

"Babe!" He had gotten up first and had let her rest and while she still hated waking up without him next to her, this morning she was thankful for the extra time.

He showed up behind her in the mirror and it looked like he was still topless. "Are we aging or is this place affecting us?" Kate was still searching for lines in her face that she thought should be there.

"I've been thinking the same thing. Lee didn't really know but he had hope." Rick and he had just discussed this topic.

"The kids are growing up fast," Kate pointed out.

"Don't have an answer for that. I guess we'll just have to wait and see." Rick had a theory but wasn't ready to discuss it. It would help to watch the kids grow older to see if they suddenly slowed way down or almost stopped aging when they reached puberty which was still a few years away.

"Are you ready to go?" Rick asked her.

"Go? Go where?" Kate turned around and couldn't help but look down and see Rick wasn't just topless, he was just as naked as she was. But she had an excuse, she had just exited the shower.

"I may be a guy but I'm not stupid. Today's our 13th wedding anniversary and I've arranged a little something for us to celebrate." Rick smiled and leaned down to give her a quick kiss.

"Oh… I'll get dressed and we can go." Kate was ready to leave his arms and get dressed except he didn't let go of her.

"No need for clothes." Rick was still smiling at her.

"I'm willing to take a few risks but going naked somewhere is asking a lot." Kate didn't see how they could celebrate anything outside of their room and still be naked.

"We're going to shift and go have some fun." They had done this a number of times but not lately.

"Ohhh! What about the kids?" It wasn't just them any longer.

"Your parents have the boys and my mother has Lynn. They think they can survive a few hours." While Lynn could manage to get into trouble, the twins were almost nothing but trouble. "I was thinking after a little fun we could visit our favorite hot pool and have some more fun."

Kate felt her heart thump hard. It wasn't that they didn't have sex anymore because they did, every chance they could get. It was just with three kids running around, finding the time was a challenge.

Johanna and Jim had moved out immediately after the twin boys had been born. Their space got subdivided into three separate spaces after Lynn was old enough to move out of their space and have her own room. They had also had part of the wall torn down and then finished so that both spaces were partially open to each other.

Johanna and Jim now had a new home made out of wood per Jim's request. It was located halfway between his fishing location and Johanna's farming area.

"I'm so ready." Kate meant everything. The romp through their valley and some sex in their hot pool. Kate was pretty sure that was where they had made Lynn and she wasn't adverse to being pregnant again. "No more twins!" Kate poked him in the chest.

"That's not up to me, my love. That's all on you." Rick gave her another quick kiss, stepped back, and began to shift since he was ready.

Kate hated it when he was right. Still she sifted into her animal with a simple grunt since both of them were getting used to shifting.

Kate's Snow Leopard allowed her to be faster so she was out in front and already romping a little as Rick's Polar Bear did his best to trot along behind her.

Once they were downstairs and outside Kate got her first surprise. At the bottom of the stairs she found two Snow Leopards that weren't her parents since she had gotten used to seeing them in their animal forms. This meant they were the only other two Snow Leopards in this community.

Next to them were the only other two Polar Bears, not counting Rick's mother.

Kate stopped and turned to look at Rick who stopped next to her. She would have kissed him if she could have so she rubbed the side of her face against his. Then she bounded down the stairs and attempted to crash into the two Snow Leopards who easily avoided her.

Soon they were all off running and doing their best not to mess up all the growing fields since it was going to be time to harvest what they were growing soon.

If you were in the area you heard growling and grunting as each jumped and ran where they wanted until they reached an open area near the lake shore.

This was where part of the fun started. The Snow Leopards didn't want to get wet. Being in a colder environment, if they got wet their coats wouldn't keep them warm. However the Polar Bears had no such problem. The trick was how to get the cats wet and keep the Polar Bears from getting wet too often.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

The game was over and they had parted and gone their separate ways. Kate was out in front as she started traveling through the snow to reach their favorite hot pool.

Once she reached it she shifted back into her human form and watched Rick shift into his. She then took his hand so she could get into the pool safely as Rick slowly made his way in.

Kate wasted no time in sitting on his lap and wrapping her arms around his neck. "That was fun, babe. So far this anniversary celebration has been great. Are you ready for round one?" Kate smiled at him before she kissed him.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Both Kate and Rick were resting on their bed totally naked. They had at best another hour before the kids would be back so they could take this chance and cuddle after having a lot of fun followed by even more fun.

"I wonder how my parents are getting along?" Kate chuckled. She had wanted a baby and had been totally surprised that she wasn't going to have just one baby but two.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Right from the start the boys proved they were going to be a challenge. They cried day and night. They cried when they were hungry; they cried when their cloth diapers were dirty; they cried when Mommy wasn't holding them. Both of them! If one had Mommy the other one cried even louder.

Thanks to being shifters, even if they had no idea what animal each one was, they didn't get many of the illnesses that a normal human baby would get. But that didn't stop them from crying over every little thing.

Then as they grew up they both proved that they were smart and needy. They had figured out how to crawl and they both had their parents off to the races.

That was when Rick had to scramble to figure out how to put up a railing to keep the twins from crawling right over the side at top speed. The benefit of not having a railing was that it didn't block the view. The downside was that if one of the twins went over the side he was dead.

Then their parents were all smiles when each took their first step. They were both still happy as they watched Eli take off across the floor headed right for the railing that had stopped him all his life. But not this time! Not to be out done his brother decided that if his brother could do it so could he. So he had his mother chasing after him as he took off to chase down his brother who was presently in his father's arms and didn't want to be.

Then came the terrible twos, which these two decided shouldn't be called terrible. They should be called horrible. They had learned that not just their legs were stronger but so were their arms. As a result anything that could be picked up also deserved to be thrown and when it broke into a million pieces that only increased the fun and they were really happy with themselves and their brother.

Then came the bad time. They both learned what a time out was and that didn't go over very well. While it gave Rick and Kate a rest they soon learned that the two thought their parents deserved to be punished for their time out.

Eli and Ethan were almost three when Lynn was born. While the twins looked a lot like their father, Lynn was the spitting image of her mother save for one tiny little difference. She had orange hair that they both attributed to Martha and Kate's mother's mother. Between that red and her own brown hair it turned out to be orange.

The boys were officially eight at the moment while Lynn was officially four but was really soon going to be five. Rick and Kate had her birthday party all planned.

When she was two Lynn showed that she was a mommy's girl and only too willing to help her mother put the twins in their place. At first it was all talk. However she was almost five now and when one of her brothers did something that pissed her off that they thought was a joke, she was more than willing to wind up and punch either of them in the arm as hard as she could.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

"Without Lynn?" Rick started laughing. "Your parents are in _BIG_ trouble. But they did volunteer to watch them for us."

"They'll be fine." Kate wanted to think that they would. She didn't want to think that her children were _that_ bad. They were boys and they were acting like boys and getting into trouble.

"Really? Something about little Katie you want to tell me?" Rick smiled since he just might get to learn something about little Katie Beckett.

Kate lied through her teeth. "No, I was a complete angel." She was saved when there was a sudden sound that they hadn't heard in years.

Kate was the fastest of the two of them as she found one of Rick's shirts and put it on but didn't bother to button it closed and just held it closed. She ran out onto the patio and stopped at the railing.

Rick found his boxers and joined her. "Porters." They both watched as the long line of porters began winding its way along the mountain wall toward them.

"We need to get dressed." Rick ran off to find something to wear so he could greet the porters and start the process of finding out what they had brought and arrange for payment. They would only have a few days to create the next list of what they wanted for next time.

U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U - /O\ - U

Rick was in time to greet the first man who he soon found out was the leader of this group whose name was Dick Dong. He did his level best to keep a straight face which wasn't easy. He had to remember his diplomatic training that he hadn't used a whole lot of over the last 13 years.

He helped to make sure they had space to set up their tents if that was where they wanted to stay. He got the kitchen busy cooking since they would likely be hungry. Then he went to check on the process of mining the diamonds for payment along with the warehouse storage of the tea they grew.

Kate watched as the porters set up camp after dropping what they had carried here. She also watched as her husband ran around all over trying to make sure everything was running smoothly. While she wanted to help, she was a woman and she had learned her place the last time the porters were here.

It was sexist and she hated it but this wasn't America so she bit her tongue like she did last time. She was just watching when it occurred to her that she could be helping in the kitchen. They suddenly had a lot of people to feed.

As she walked to the kitchen she ran into her parents, Martha, and her children. She stopped at her sons first. "I want you two to stay out of the way. I find out that you got anywhere near the porters and made a nuisance of yourselves I'll ground both of you for a year. These porters are important to this place and your help is not required. You can watch but keep your mouths closed and stay out of the way." Kate did her best to sound as forceful as she could.

"We'll watch them," Johanna offered.

"I've always wanted to practice my hog tying technique," Jim added not that Eli or Ethan had any idea what he was talking about. Though they both caught the tie part.

"Lynn, honey, you're with me. We're doing some cooking." Kate decided she might as well start teaching her daughter how to cook just like her mother had taught her, even if she had blown off much of what her mother had tried to teach her.

Since Martha was free of child wrangling duties she chose to put on her actress face and glared at the boys. She began playing with her fingers, demonstrating that fingers could go backwards only just so far. She wouldn't do it, but she was an actress and she was playing a part.

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It was really late and the kids were in bed asleep. Rick had been busy, however Kate and her parents along with Martha had done all they could to make sure the kids were tired and couldn't stay awake.

Right now everyone else was out on the patio going over the list that had been created of what the porters had brought. Then they would start their own list. They needed to do this tonight since the day after tomorrow the porters would be leaving.

"Okay, we got all of the solar panels we asked for, along with all the wiring. We're short 4 batteries but hopefully that won't hurt us. Thankfully we did get all the interconnecting cables for all the batteries we asked for so we actually have a few extra since we're short batteries. We got two of the three inverters we asked for." Rick paused.

"Wine?" Martha asked since she had done without for the last 13 years save for the occasional bottle that Johanna and Jim suddenly, miraculously, came up with that didn't last long.

"Fourteen cases, Mother. You'll have to be careful since I don't know if or when the next ones will show up," Rick warned but saw her beaming. She was saved!

"Seeds?" Johanna inquired. That had him pushing his list across to her since he didn't remember what all was asked for when it came to seeds.

Johanna used her fingers to count them and then did it again. "Missing one though I don't know which one." She pushed the list back across to him.

"Let's see, they got us two satellite dishes." Rick was pleased with that. "Twelve duplex receptacles, one box of wire nuts, 13 laptops though I don't recognize the name beyond that it says Apple." He was a little surprised at that.

"It's been 13 years, babe. Maybe they bought the latest instead of 13-year-old computers," Kate remarked which Rick granted easily was possible.

He kept checking off the items. "More nets, more farm tools, more axes and more saws. …They brought a small kiln, small propane bottles, a marver, a pyrometer and some powdered colors."

"Glass blowing!" That had been Kate's idea since she was interested in trying it. Painting was nice but glass blowing might be more fun.

"It looks like we got most of what we asked for even if we are short a few things. We'll just have to make do. Next comes our biggest problem. Finding an electrician to wire it all up." Rick was a diplomat not an electrician though he was hoping it all came with instructions.

"Jim got what he wanted so I guess we'll see if we can create hydro power." Rick adds.

He got a lot of nodding heads and some chuckling.

"So what's in the box?" Jim asked since Rick had dropped it on the floor, left it there, and had so far left it closed.

"That's the bad news." Rick pushed his list away, picked up the box, and re-opened it. He pulled out the first newspaper he saw and dropped it on the table.

Above the fold of the paper was just one bold and very large word with a question mark.

**WAR?**

Jim got to it first but Rick had more and the next one was the same paper though the next three were all different. Two of which were written in Chinese that none of them could read.

"No one but me has seen these," Rick said. Save for the porter(s) that had brought them.

Jim shared his with Johanna while Martha had her own and Kate shared hers with her husband. Rick was the fastest reader and found out what they were talking about first.

"The Chinese have invaded Taiwan." That got everyone else to stop reading and look at him. Rick read as fast as he could. "OH SHIT!" He sat back in his chair and had everyone's attention.

"North Korea has decided to take advantage of the situation and launched their own attack on South Korea." He really didn't need to read more but he would and expected everyone else would eventually read each and every word.

"We really are going to blow ourselves up." Jim sat back and left his paper behind.

"Nukes?" Kate questioned and looked at her husband who simply shrugged. He had stopped at that point.

That got Rick to take all of that paper and start reading. Kate moved next to Martha so she could read something. Rick was too fast for all of them.

Rick was onto the third page while they were all on the front page which was only half filled with information.

"This is interesting!" Rick had found something shocking. He suddenly had everyone's attention. "Seems a few years ago one party, not to be named, gained almost complete control of the Senate and enough control of the House. They changed the Constitution which allowed the President of the United States be a lifelong position just like the Supreme Court."

"Say that again?" Jim was sure he had heard wrong.

Johanna knew what that meant. "No more democracy."

"I hate to say it but I kind of saw it coming with the previous president. He fired Roy and I was convinced I would be fired when I got back, right along with Gina and Paula. America was getting out of helping other countries business. It was becoming all about what was good for America only and screw everyone else. It reminded me a lot about the isolationists just before WWII. What didn't happen in America wasn't important."

"So who's the president for life then?" Kate inquired.

"Someone named William H. Bracken. Seems he was a US Senator from New York before being elected president. Now he's president until he either dies or becomes medically incapacitated, I would think. Ever heard of him?" Rick looked at everyone else since they were all from New York.

Johanna tilted her head thinking that might shake a memory loose. "He was something in New York City, I think. Just can't remember what." She tilted her head the other direction.

Jim tried to help her since he didn't remember the name. "DA maybe, council member, commissioner?"

"YES! …No, not DA, Assistant DA. How did he get to be president so fast?" Johanna thought that was really fast to go from Assistant DA to President of the United States in just 10 years or more. A truly meteoric rise in power in such a short time. From a virtual nobody to President of the United States in just a decade.

"Connections? Money? Right party? Whatever, America is stuck with him for good or bad." Rick had no idea how.

"Nukes?" Kate got back on the main topic. The war.

"It doesn't mention any." Rick picked up the paper to look at the date. "This is over 11 months old!" That meant a lot had probably happened since this paper had been produced and distributed.

"So we're reading about what happened in the war almost a year ago." Jim wasn't sure he liked that.

"We need to know what the porters know. What did they know before they left to come here?" Johanna looked at Rick since between them he was the only one who spoke the predominant language.

"What's war?" a soft little voice asked. All eyes turned to see almost 5-year-old Lynn standing there in her sleepwear, rubbing her eyes.

Kate leapt out of her chair to scoop up her daughter who should be asleep. Lynn didn't need to know what war was and Kate had no intention of explaining it to her. Johanna and even Martha were right behind her and they all escorted little Lynn back to her bedroom.

Rick let his forehead hit the table. "Swell!" Not what he needed to hear or see.

"She's five, eventually she'll forget all about this day. Just make sure you burn these things." Jim crinkled the paper on the table, his eyes intense as he looked at Rick. "The last thing my grandchildren need to find is these things after they are old enough to understand what's in them. Unless it comes here the less they know the better. Let them keep their innocence."

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Rick and Kate were watching as the last of the porters left and left a mess for them to clean up again. "What do you think?" Kate asked him since the main subject between all of them was would the porters ever be back? Were they going to be alive to come back? Were the residents of this incredible settlement going to be alive when they got here?

Rick began to tell her what he'd learned from the porters. "They didn't know anything about nukes so that's a good thing. The Chinese are helping the North Koreans and the North Koreans with their help are winning. Does that mean someone uses a nuke? I have no idea. North Korea could try to send one to Guam, for example, to rub it in once since they have China backing them up.

"The fight for Taiwan was still going on. China was winning but it was costing them. It's the Chinese warning about any ship entering the South China Sea that has me worried.

"The paper is right though, WAR question mark? Does it escalate from here? Is China satisfied with their wins? Does America need to save face? Which I don't think they do. They fired Roy; they were clearly going to fire me. They only care about themselves. I wouldn't be surprised if America is scrambling to get their people out of South Korea as fast as possible and leave them to their fate. The same for Taiwan. The same for Europe or any other country.

"We're so much better off here." Rick really was right where he was needed most. He had after all this time learned that Lee was right in selecting him and brining him here.

"What's with the box?" Kate could only guess what was in it since it looked like the same box.

"This." He walked over to one of the fires that the porters had started so they could do some of their own cooking. He dropped it on top and watched it burn.

"Jim suggested we burn those papers. The kids don't ever need to learn what they say. We're never leaving and neither are they. With some of the books they brought us we can expand our school and teach them all they need to know. No need to know about wars, or guns, or murder, or theft, or a lot of what consumes so many people back home." That had Kate putting her arm though his and holding onto him.

She agreed wholeheartedly. Her boys didn't need to learn how to fight or kill or use weapons.

"Think we'll get what we asked for?" Would they be back? They still had diamonds but were they worth all that much any longer?

Rick shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. We'll plan as though they're never coming back. As if the pass between here and there is taken out by an avalanche. Though if we get that satellite up and operational we can at least keep track of what's happening out there. So long as no one shoots down all the satellites."

They were both interrupted when a man showed up. "Xiānshēng, qíngfù, lǐ dàshī shēngbìngle. Wǒmen rènwéi tā kěnéng huì sǐ,"* he told Rick.

"What did he say?" Kate still had a lot to learn when it came to Chinese.

"On skazal, chto Li umirayet,"* Rick told her and took off running.

"DER'MO!"* Kate cursed loudly.

Johanna walked up to her after coming down the stairs. "Why's he running?"

"Lee's dying," Kate said, a tear running down her cheek. "Rick may be alone soon."

Johanna put an arm around her. "He'll never be alone. He has you and you both have us and his mother. We're family and none of us are going anywhere. You're stuck with all of us. Your children may be a pain from time to time, but that's what kids do. But you know they love both of you fiercely." Johanna tightened her hold on her daughter for a moment.

Kate put an arm around her mother. "Thanks, Mom. I love you. …By the way, I'm late." Kate had already told her husband, now she was telling her mother.

Johanna stared at her daughter and she started to smile. "Your father and I and Martha will be happy to spoil each and every one of them."

**Rick**

*He said Lee is dying.

**Kate**

*Shit!


End file.
